Case C-172/08: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 25 February 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Commissione Tributaria Provinciale di Roma, Italy) — Pontina Ambiente Srl v Regione Lazio (Environment — Directive 1999/31/EC — Article 10 — Special levy on the disposal of solid waste in landfills — Operator of a landfill subject to that levy — Operating costs of a landfill — Directive 2000/35/EC — Default interest)
Date: 2010-02-25
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: claim, commercial law, debt, indemnification, interpretation of the law, judgment of the Court (EU), payment, trading operation








C_2010100EN.01000201.xml










17.4.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 100/2





Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 25 February 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Commissione Tributaria Provinciale di Roma, Italy) — Pontina Ambiente Srl v Regione Lazio
(Case C-172/08) (1)

(Environment - Directive 1999/31/EC - Article 10 - Special levy on the disposal of solid waste in landfills - Operator of a landfill subject to that levy - Operating costs of a landfill - Directive 2000/35/EC - Default interest)
2010/C 100/02
Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Commissione Tributaria Provinciale di Roma

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Pontina Ambiente Srl

Defendant: Regione Lazio

Re:

Interpretation of Article 10 of Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste (OJ 1999 L 182, p. 1), 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) and Articles 12 EC, 14 EC, 43 EC and 46 EC — National legislation imposing a special tax on the disposal of solid waste in landfills and obliging the operator of the waste disposal site to make advance payment of that tax, which is determined according to the amount of waste disposed of and for which the person responsible for the disposal is liable

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 10 of Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste, as amended by Regulation No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 September 2003 must be interpreted as meaning that it does not preclude a national provision, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which makes the operator of a landfill site subject to a levy to be reimbursed by the local authority depositing the waste and which provides for financial penalties to be imposed on that operator for late payment of the levy, on condition that those rules are accompanied by measures to ensure that the levy is actually reimbursed within a short time and that all the costs of recovery, and in particular, the costs resulting from late payment of amounts which that authority owes to the site operator on that account, including costs incurred in order to avoid any financial penalty which might be imposed on the site operator, are passed on in the price to be paid by the authority to that operator. It is for the national court to ascertain whether those conditions have been satisfied;










2.


Articles 1, 2(1) and 3 of Directive 2000/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 June 2000 on combating late payment in commercial transactions must be interpreted as meaning the sums owed to the operator of a landfill site by a local authority depositing waste in the landfill, such as the sums due by way of reimbursement of a levy, come within the scope of that Directive and that the Member States must ensure, in accordance with Article 3 thereof, that, in the case of late payment, the landfill operator may charge the local authority interest on those sums for which the local authority is liable.






(1)  OJ C 183, 19.7.2008.