Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Preliminary rulings — Reference to the Court — National court or tribunal for the purposes of Article 234 EC — Judge investigating a criminal matter — Investigating magistrate — (Art. 234 EC)

2. Preliminary rulings — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Interpretation of a directive in the course of criminal proceedings for infringement of the national legislation transposing it — Determination of the consequences of the subsequent decriminalisation of the offences — Excluded — (Art. 234 EC)

3. Preliminary rulings — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Obviously irrelevant questions and hypothetical questions in a context which precludes any useful answer — Questions not related to the subject-matter of the main proceedings — (Art. 234 EC)

4. Environment — Waste — Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156 — Definition — Substance which has been discarded — Criteria of assessment — (Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156, Art. 1(a))

5. Environment — Waste — Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156 — Definition — Substance which has been discarded — Exception — Petroleum coke produced in an oil refinery — Effective use of that substance to meet the energy needs of the refinery — (Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156)

Summary

1. The judge investigating a criminal matter or the investigating magistrate constitute a court or tribunal within the meaning of Article 234 EC, appointed to give a ruling, independently and in accordance with law, in cases coming within the jurisdiction conferred on them by law in proceedings intended to culminate in decisions of a judicial nature.

see para. 23

2. A directive may not of itself either impose obligations on a private individual and therefore be relied on as such against such a person, or have the effect, independently of a national law adopted by a Member State for its implementation, of determining or aggravating the liability in criminal law of persons who act in contravention of the provisions of that directive. It is not for the Court, on a reference for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of a directive, to interpret or apply national law in order to establish the effects of national legislation which no longer considers to be infringements the acts which gave rise to the criminal proceedings before the national court, although it is common ground that, at the time when those acts were established, they could, where relevant, constitute offences punishable under national criminal law.

see paras 25-26

3. In the context of the cooperation between the Court of Justice and the national courts established by Article 234 EC, it is solely for the national court, before which the dispute has been brought and which must assume responsibility for the subsequent judicial decision to determine, in the light of the particular circumstances of the case, both the need for a preliminary ruling in order to enable it to deliver judgment and the relevance of the questions which it submits to the Court. Consequently, wherethe questions submitted concern the interpretation of Community law, the Court of Justice is, in principle, bound to give a ruling. However, in exceptional circumstances, it falls to the Court to examine the conditions in which the case was referred to it by the national court, in order to decide whether it has jurisdiction. It may refuse to rule on a question referred for a preliminary ruling by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of Community law that is sought bears no relation to the facts of the main action or its purpose, where the problem is hypothetical, or where the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it.

see paras 28-29

4. The scope of the concept of waste depends on the meaning of the term " discard" used in Article 1(a) of Directive 75/442 on waste. The use of an operation listed in Annex II A or Annex II B to that directive does not of itself allow a substance or object to be classified as waste and, conversely, the concept of waste does not exclude substances and objects which are capable of further economic use. The system of supervision and management established by that directive is intended to cover all objects and substances discarded by their owner, even if they have a commercial value and are collected on a commercial basis for recycling, reclamation or further use.

Certain circumstances may constitute evidence that the holder has discarded a substance or object or intends or is required to discard it within the meaning of Article 1(a) of Directive 75/442. That will be the case, in particular, where the substance used is a production residue, that is to say a product not intended as such. However, a substance reuse of which is a certainty, without any prior processing, and as an integral part of the production process cannot be described as waste. Other evidence of the existence of waste within the meaning of that provision may lie in the fact that the treatment method for the substance in question is a standard waste treatment method or that the undertaking perceives the substance as waste and from the fact that, in the case of a production residue, it can be used only in a way that involves its disappearance or that its use must involve special measures to protect the environment. Those elements are not necessarily conclusive, and whether something is in fact waste must be determined in the light of all the circumstances, regard being had to the aim of the directive and the need to ensure that its effectiveness is not undermined.

see paras 33-34, 36, 39-40

5. Petroleum coke which is produced intentionally or in the course of producing other petroleum fuels in an oil refinery and is certain to be used as fuel to meet the energy needs of the refinery and those of other industries does not constitute waste within the meaning of Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156.

see para. 47, operative part