2.

The Belgian Government acknowledges that it has not yet adopted all the measures by way of laws, regulations and administrative provisions needed to implement the six directives with which we are concerned. Nevertheless it also alleges, first of all generally in the defences and then, with more particulars, in the rejoinders, that as regards certain of the directives “measures of partial implementation” are already in force. In that respect the defendant government refers to: the Law of 26 March 1971 and the Royal Decree of 3 October 1975 which contain provisions complying with certain obligations in Directive 75/439; the General Regulation on the Protection of Employment (Title 1 under the heading “Waste”, List A and “Refuse”, List B) containing provisions appropriate for giving effect to Directive 75/442; and finally the Law of 22 July 1974 and the Royal Decree of 9 February 1976 containing rules corresponding to those of Directive 76/403. Certainly it cannot be denied that in principle when the law of a Member State already contains the rules capable of achieving the result sought by a particular directive that State is not bound to adopt new rules for the specific purpose of giving effect to the same directive. Thus if, instead of being collected into a single law, the national rules consistent with a directive are spread out among various laws, the obligation on the Member State may also be regarded as fulfilled. But in both cases it is essential that the national law should be in complete conformity with the requirements of the directive. There must be total compliance with the directive: only in that way will the substance of the national laws of all the Member States be uniform no matter the variety of forms and methods. In the present case the Belgian Government itself admits that at most there has been partial implementation of three directives out of six. A quick comparison of the obligations arising under the Community measures with the laws and regulations relied upon by the defendant suffices to demonstrate the following situation: (a) Directive 75/439 prohibits any discharge of waste oils into ground water, internal surface waters, coastal waters and drainage systems but the first prohibition is not to be found either in the Law of 26 March 1971 which concerns solely the protection of surface water against pollution or in the Royal Decree of 3 October 1975. In the same way the obligation which the directive imposes on States to prevent any deposit and or discharge or both, of waste oils harmful to the soil and any processing of waste oils causing air pollution which exceeds the level prescribed by existing provisions (Article 4) may not be regarded as fulfilled by the two Belgian measures. (b) The rules of Directive 75/442 do not have even a partial equivalence in those of the General Regulation on the Protection of Employment (adopted bv two decrees of the Regent dated 11 February 1946 and 27 September 1947 and subsequently amended several times). In fact the regulation in question is confined to specifying industrial establishments which may be “dangerous, unhygienic and cause inconvenience” and provides that prior authorization is necessary for their creation and operation and further that they must be subject to special inspection. The representative of the Belgian Government confined himself to referring to two items of the nomenclature and classification of those establishments. In my opinion none of that has anything to do with the provisions of the directive which concern in particular the problem of the disposal of waste (at the various stages of collection, sorting, transport, deposit and treatment) and set as their aim the protection not only of human health but also of the environment. (c) The Belgian Law of 22 July 1974 on toxic waste, supplemented by a regulation of 9 February 1976, imposes certain measures which Directive 76/403 subsequently made mandatory but it does not contain others which are very important. In particular the regeneration of toxic waste, the abandonment of objects and equipment no longer capable of being used and containing polychlorinated phenyls and the disposal of the latter, are not covered by the Belgian rules in force.