Request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato (Italy) lodged on 13 July 2020 — Regione Veneto v Plan Eco Srl

(Case C-315/20)

(2020/C 304/14)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Consiglio di Stato

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: Regione Veneto

Respondent: Plan Eco Srl

Question referred

In a case where mixed municipal waste which does not contain hazardous waste has been mechanically treated at a facility for the purpose of energy recovery (operation R1/R12 under Annex C to the Codice dell’Ambiente (Italian Environment Code)) and, following the treatment operation, it appears, in theory, that the treatment has not substantially altered the original properties of the mixed municipal waste, to which is assigned the code EWC 19.12.12., which the parties do not contest; for the purpose of the judgment as to the legitimacy of the objections to the request for prior consent for shipment of the treated waste to a production facility in a Member State of the European Union for use in co-combustion or other means of generating energy, raised by the competent authority in the country of origin on the basis of the principles of Directive 2008/98/EC, (1) and specifically objections such as those, in this case, based:

— on the principle of protection of human health and the environment (Article 13);

— on the principle of self-sufficiency and proximity laid down in Article 16(1), according to which ‘Member States shall take appropriate measures, in cooperation with other Member States where this is necessary or advisable, to establish an integrated and adequate network of waste disposal installations and of installations for the recovery of mixed municipal waste collected from private households, including where such collection also covers such waste from other producers, taking into account best available techniques’;

— on the principle, also laid down in the final sentence of the second subparagraph of Article 16(1), according to which ‘Member States may also limit outgoing shipments of waste on environmental grounds as set out in Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006’; (2)

— on recital 33 of Directive 2008/98/EC, according to which, ‘for the purposes of applying Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 … on shipments of waste, mixed municipal waste as referred to in Article 3(5) of that regulation remains mixed municipal waste even when it has been subject to a waste treatment operation that has not substantially altered its properties’:

does the European Waste Catalogue and its classifications (in the present case, EWC 19.12.12., designating waste produced by mechanical treatment facilities for recovery operations R1/R12), interfere — and, if so, in what terms and to what extent — with the rules [of EU law] on the shipment of waste which, prior to mechanical treatment, was mixed municipal waste;

and, in particular, with regard to shipments of waste resulting from the treatment of mixed municipal waste, do the provisions of Article 16 of Directive 2008/98/EC and recital 33 thereof, specifically concerning the shipment of waste, take precedence over the classification based on the European Waste Catalogue;

specifying, if the Court of Justice deems it appropriate and useful, whether that catalogue is regulatory in nature or whether it is simply a technical certification intended for the uniform traceability of all waste?

(1) Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives (OJ 2008 L 312, p. 3).

(2) Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste (OJ 2006 L 190, p. 1).