C 252/28
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
17.7.2023
Request for a preliminary ruling from the Ustavno sodišče Republike Slovenije (Slovenia) lodged on 20 April 2023 — INTERZERO Trajnostne rešitve za svet brez odpadkov d.o.o., Interzero Circular Solutions Europe GmbH and Others v Državni zbor Republike Slovenije (Case C-254/23, INTERZERO and Others) (2023/C 252/32) Language of the case: Slovenian Referring court Ustavno sodišče Republike Slovenije
Parties to the main proceedings Applicants: INTERZERO Trajnostne rešitve za svet brez odpadkov d.o.o., Interzero Circular Solutions Europe GmbH and Others
Defendant: Državni zbor Republike Slovenije
Questions referred 1.
Must a legal person that has the exclusive right to carry out the collective fulfilment of extended producer responsibility obligations in respect of products of the same type within the territory of the Republic of Slovenia be regarded as an undertaking entrusted with the operation of a service of general economic interest, within the meaning of Article 106(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (read in the light of Article 14 TFEU, Protocol No 26 on services of general interest and Articles 8 and 8a of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain directives), (1) where that activity includes:
— the conclusion of contracts with the producers of certain products pursuant to which those producers entrust that legal person with the task of ensuring on their behalf the proper management of the waste resulting from those products;
— the organisation of a system for the collection and treatment of waste (the conclusion of contracts with commercial companies to carry out, on the Organisation’s behalf, the collection and proper treatment of all waste resulting from products to which extended producer responsibility applies), and
— the keeping of a register of the products to which extended producer responsibility applies and which are placed on the market in the Republic of Slovenia, and the keeping of a register of the collected and treated waste resulting from the products to which extended producer responsibility applies, and the transmission of that data to the Ministry,
and where that legal person is obliged, in order to carry out that activity, to conclude contracts both with producers having extended producer responsibility and with the commercial companies that will carry out the collection and treatment of waste?
2.
Must Articles 16 and 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Articles 49, 56 and 106 TFEU, Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (2) and Articles 8 and 8a of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain directives be interpreted as precluding legislation pursuant to which the collective fulfilment of extended producer responsibility obligations in respect of products of the same type may be carried out by only one legal person in the territory of the Member State and only on a non-profit-making basis, meaning that income must not exceed actual expenditure incurred in the collective fulfilment of the extended producer responsibility obligations and that the legal person in question must use any profits solely for carrying out its activities and implementing measures for the collective fulfilment of the extended producer responsibility obligations?