Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 4 October 2012 —Commission v Belgium(Case C-391/11)
Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Directive 2000/53/EC – Article 2(3) – Protection of the environment – End-of-life vehicles – Notion of producer
1.                     Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Application initiating proceedings – Statement of subject-matter and pleas in
law – Formal requirements – National provisions at issue identified in the resonated opinion but not in the application –
Whether admissible (Art. 258 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 21, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the Court
of Justice, Art. 38(1)(c)) (see paras 23, 24, 26, 27)
2.                     Acts of the institutions – Directives – Implementation by Member States –Use of measures within the competence of regional
or local authorities – Whether lawful – Limits – Adoption of a regional definition of a notion laid down in a directive –
Attainment of the objectives of the directive not impeded – Lawfulness (Art. 288, third para., TFEU; European Parliament and
Council Directive 2000/53, Art. 2, para. 3) (see paras 31, 32, 34, 41)
Re:
Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Failure by a Member State to adopt, within the period prescribed, the measures
necessary to comply with the provisions of Article 2(1) and (3) and Article 5(1), (2) and (4) of Directive 2000/53/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on end-of life vehicles (OJ 2000 L 269, p. 34) – Notions of ‘vehicle’
and ‘producer’ – Free-of-charge delivery of end-of-life vehicles subject to conditions not provided for by the directive.
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Dismisses the action;
2.
Orders the European Commission and the Kingdom of Belgium each to bear their own costs.