Case C-265/07: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 11 September 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale civile di Roma — Italy) — Caffaro Srl v Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale RM/C (Commercial transactions — Directive 2000/35/EC — Combating of late payment — Procedures for recovery of unchallenged claims)
Date: 2008-09-11
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: claim, interpretation of the law, payment, public administration

8.11.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 285/9

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 11 September
2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Högsta
domstolen — Sweden) — Gävle Kraftvärme AB v
Länsstyrelsen i Gävleborgs län

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 11 September
2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale
civile di Roma — Italy) — Caffaro Srl v Azienda Unità
Sanitaria Locale RM/C

(Case C-251/07) (1)

(Case C-265/07) (1)

(Environment — Directive 2000/76/EC — Incineration of
waste — Classification of an installation for the production of
heat and electricity — Concepts of incineration plant and
co-incineration plant)

transactions — Directive 2000/35/EC —
(Commercial
Combating of late payment — Procedures for recovery of
unchallenged claims)

(2008/C 285/13)

Language of the case: Swedish

(2008/C 285/14)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Högsta domstolen

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Gävle Kraftvärme AB

Defendant: Länsstyrelsen i Gävleborgs län

Re:

Referring court

Tribunale civile di Roma

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Caffaro Srl

Defendant: Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale RM/C

In the presence of: Banca di Roma SpA

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Högsta domstolen —
Interpretation of Article 3(4) and (5) of Directive 2000/76/EC
of 4 December 2000 of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the incineration of waste (OJ 2000 L 332, p. 91) —
Classification of
and heating plant
combined power
comprising a number of furnaces — Incineration plant or co-in-
cineration plant

a

Operative part of the judgment

1. For

the
the purposes of applying Directive 2000/76/EC of
European Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2000 on
the incineration of waste, where a co-generation plant comprises a
number of boilers, each boiler and its associated equipment is to be
regarded as constituting a separate plant.

2. It is on the basis of its main purpose that a plant is to be classified
as an ‘incineration plant’ or a ‘co-incineration plant’ within the
meaning of Article 3(4) and (5) of Directive 2000/76. It is for
the competent authorities to identify that purpose on the basis of
an assessment of the facts existing at the time at which that assess-
ment is carried out. In the context of such an assessment, account
must be taken, in particular, of the volume of energy generated or
material products produced by the plant in question in relation to
the quantity of waste incinerated in that plant and the stability and
continuity of that production.

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Tribunale civile di Roma
— Interpretation of Article 5 of Directive 2000/35/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 29 June 2000 on
combating late payment in commercial transactions (OJ 2000
L 200, p. 35) — Recovery procedures for uncontested debts —
National legislation laying down that a period of 120 days from
the date of notification of the recovery order must elapse before
recovery of the debt may be enforced

Operative part of the judgment

Directive 2000/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 29 June 2000 on combating late payment in commercial transac-
tions is to be interpreted as not precluding a national provision such as
Article 14 of Decree-Law No 669/1996 of 31 December 1996,
converted into a law, after amendment, by Law No 30 of 28 February
1997, as amended by Article 147 of Law No 388 of 23 December
2000, pursuant to which a creditor in possession of an enforceable
title in respect of an unchallenged claim against a public authority as
remuneration for a commercial transaction cannot proceed to forced
execution against the public authority before a period of 120 days has
elapsed since service of the enforceable title on the authority.

(1) OJ C 170, 21.7.2007.

(1) OJ C 199, 25.8.2007.