Case C-458/00: Action brought on 19 December 2000 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Date: 2001-02-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Luxembourg, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, air quality, waste disposal, waste management

C 45/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

10.2.2001

Action brought on 19 December 2000 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy
of Luxembourg

Action brought on 21 December 2000 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Hellenic Repub-
lic

(Case C-458/00)

(2001/C 45/26)

(Case C-460/00)

(2001/C 45/27)

An action against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was
brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communi-
ties on 19 December 2000 by the Commission of the European
Communities, represented by Hans Støvlbaek, of its Legal
Service, and Joselle Adda, a national civil
servant on
secondment to its Legal Service, acting as Agents, with an
address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos
Go´ mez de la Cruz, of
its Legal Service, Wagner Centre,
Kirchberg.

The Commission claims that the Court should:

1.

declare that the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has failed
to fulfil
its obligations under Articles 2, 6 and 7 of
Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993
on the supervision and control of shipments of waste
within, into and out of the European Community (1) and
Article 1(f) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC on waste (2)
in conjunction with point RI of Annex HB to that
directive;

2.

order the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to pay the costs.

An action against the Hellenic Republic was brought before the
Court of Justice of the European Communities on 21 December
2000 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by Marie Wolfcarius, Legal Adviser in its Legal
Service, and Maria Patakia, of its Legal Service, with an address
for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Go´ mez de ]a
Cruz, of its Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.

The Commission claims that the Court should:

— declare that, by failing to adopt and to notify to the
Commission, within the time-limit laid down, the laws,
regulations and administrative provisions necessary for it
to comply fully with Council Directive 96/48/EC of
23 July 1996 (1) on the interoperability of the trans-
European high-speed rail system, the Hellenic Republic
has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty;

— order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Commission submits that it follows from point R1 of
Annex IIB to Directive 75/442, to which Article 1(f) of that
directive refers, that not only use principally as a fuel but also
the use of waste in connection with any other means of
producing energy is to be treated as a recovery operation
under Community law and that that is the case as regards an
incineration plant, whether used principally or exclusively to
incinerate household waste without a link with an industrial
manufacturing process, where that plant
is capable of
recovering a substantial proportion of the energy contained in
the incinerated waste. It rejects in particular the proposition
that a disposal operation is involved (in the present case
‘incineration on land’ within the meaning of point D10 of
Annex IIA to Directive 75/442). The definitions of ‘incineration
plant’ in Directives 89/369/EEC, 89/429/EEC and 94/67/EC
reflect the objective of protecting the environment from the
harmful effects of waste incineration as such, both where the
incineration is to be treated as a disposal operation and where
it comes under recovery since none of those directives specifies
that the incineration it governs constitutes a recovery or a
disposal operation.

In accordance with the third paragraph of Article 249 of the
Treaty establishing the European Community, directives are
binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member
State to which they are addressed.

Under the first paragraph of Article 10 of the Treaty, Member
States are to take all appropriate measures, whether general or
particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out
of the Treaty or resulting from action taken by the institutions
of the Community.

It is not disputed by the Hellenic Republic that it must adopt
measures to comply with the abovementioned directive.

The Commission records that until now the Hellenic Republic
has not adopted the appropriate measures to incorporate that
directive fully into Greek law.

(1) OJ No L 30, 6.2.1993, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 39.

(1) OJ L 235, 17.9.1996, p. 6.