Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1999:422
Date: 1999-09-16
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Environment;Approximation of laws;Waste
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Preliminary rulings — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — jurisdiction of the 
national courts — Establishment and evaluation of the facts — Application of 
provisions interpreted by the Court 
(EC Treaty, Art. 177 (now Art. 234 EC)) 
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SUMMARY — JOINED CASES C-175/98 AND C-177/98 
2. Environment — Waste disposal — Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 
91/156 — Meaning of 'temporary storage' of waste — Waste management within 
the meaning of Article 1 (d) — 'Temporary storage' not covered 
(Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156, Art. 1(d), Annexes II A, 
point D 15, and II B, point R 13) 
3. Environment — Waste disposal — Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 
91/156 — Member States under an obligation to ensure the recovery or disposal of 
waste — Temporary storage operations — Covered 
(Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156, Art. 4) 
1. In proceedings under Article 177 of the 
Treaty (now Article 234 EC), which is 
based on a clear separation of functions 
between the national courts and the 
Court of Justice, any assessment of the 
facts is a matter for the national court. 
Accordingly, the Court has no jurisdic­
tion to give a ruling on the facts in an 
individual case or to apply the rules of 
Community law which it has inter­
preted to national measures or situa­
tions, since those questions fall within 
the exclusive jurisdiction of the 
national court. 
2. There is a distinction between 'tempor­
ary storage' of waste and 'storage 
pending further operations'. Tempor­
ary storage is not covered by the term 
'waste management' within the mean­
ing of Article 1(d) of Directive 75/442 
on waste, as amended by Directive 
91/156. 
By stating that operations for the 
recovery or disposal of waste include 
storage pending further operations, but 
exclude temporary storage, point D 15 
of Annex II A to Directive 91/156 and 
point R 13 of Annex II B thereto 
necessarily mean that there is a distinc­
tion between temporary storage and 
storage pending further operations. 
Storage pending further operations 
thus forms part of the disposal or 
recovery of waste, whilst temporary 
storage pending collection is expressly 
excluded. 
Temporary storage consequently pre­
cedes waste management and, in parti­
cular, the collection of waste and 
constitutes an operation preparatory 
to the recovery or disposal operations 
set out in Annexes II A and II B to 
Directive 75/442, at points D 1 to D 15 
and R 1 to R 13 respectively. Tempor­
ary storage pending collection, on the 
site where it is produced, is therefore to 
be defined as the operation preparatory 
to waste management within the mean­
ing of Article 1(d) of Directive 75/442. 
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LIRUSSI AND BIZZARO 
3. The competent national authorities are 
required, so far as concerns operations 
involving the temporary storage of 
waste, to ensure compliance with the 
obligations resulting from Article 4 of 
Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended 
by Directive 91/156, which requires 
Member States to take the measures 
necessary to ensure the recovery or 
disposal of waste. 
In so far as waste, even waste which is 
stored temporarily, can cause serious 
harm to the environment, the provi­
sions of Article 4 of Directive 75/442, 
which are intended to implement the 
principle of precaution, also apply to 
temporary storage. Notwithstanding 
the fact that undertakings holding 
waste, which store it temporarily, are 
not subject to the requirement of 
registration or authorisation provided 
for by Directive 75/442, all storage, 
whether temporary or pending further 
operations, as well as waste manage­
ment within the meaning of Arti­
cle 1(d) of that Directive must comply 
with the principles of precaution and 
preventive action which Article 4 of 
Directive 75/442 is intended to imple­
ment. 
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