CELEX: C1998/041/29
Language: en
Date: 1998-02-07 00:00:00
Title: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Netherlands Raad van State by order of that court of 25 November 1997 in the case of ARCO Chemie Nederland Ltd v. Minister van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer (Case C-418/97)

7.2.98                   EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                  C 41/15
Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Netherlands                 Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hof van
Raad van State by order of that court of 25 November                    Cassatie van BelgieÈ by judgment of that court of
1997 in the case of ARCO Chemie Nederland Ltd v.                        4 December 1997 in the case of Leathertex Divisione
Minister van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en                               Sintetici SpA against BVBA Bodetex
                            Milieubeheer                                                        (Case C-420/97)
                          (Case C-418/97)                                                         (98/C 41/30)
                            (98/C 41/29)
                                                                        Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                        European Communities by judgment of the Hof van
                                                                        Cassatie van BelgieÈ (Belgian Court of Cassation) of
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                  4 December 1997, received at the Court Registry on
European Communities by order of the Netherlands Raad                   11 December 1997, for a preliminary ruling in the case of
van State (Council of State) of 25 November 1997,                       Leathertex Divisione Sintetici SpA against BVBA Bodetex
received at the Court Registry on 11 December 1997, for                 on the following question:
a preliminary ruling in the case of ARCO Chemie
Nederland Ltd v. Minister van Volkshuisvesting,
Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer (Minister for                      Are Article 5(1) and Article 2 of the Brussels Convention,
Housing, Planning and the Environment) on the following                 in the version applicable to the present case, to be
questions:                                                              interpreted as meaning that a composite claim founded on
                                                                        different obligations arising from the same contract may
                                                                        be brought before the same court, even though, according
                                                                        to the jurisdictional rules of the State in which the
1. May it be inferred from the mere fact that LUWA                      proceedings are brought, one of the contractual
     bottoms (1) undergo an operation listed in Annex II(B)             obligations on which the claim is based is to be performed
     to Directive 75/442/EEC (2) that that substance has                in that State and the other is to be performed in another
     been discarded so as to enable it to be regarded as                EC Member State, having regard to the fact that the court
     waste for the purposes of Directive 75/442/EEC?                    before which the proceedings are brought decides, on the
                                                                        basis of the claim brought before it, that neither of the
                                                                        two obligations forming the subject matter of the claim is
                                                                        subordinate to the other and that they are of equal rank?
2. If question 1 is to be answered in the negative, does
     the reply to the question whether the use of LUWA-
     bottoms as a fuel is to be regarded as constituting
     discarding depend on whether:
     (a) LUWA-bottoms             constitute    waste      under        Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunal de
         contemporary thinking whereby it is of particular              Grande Instance de Meaux (First Chamber), by judgment
         relevance whether they may be recovered in an                  of 13 November 1997, in the case of Yves Tarantik and
         environmentally responsible manner for use as fuel                    Direction des Services Fiscaux, Seine-et-Marne
         without further processing,
                                                                                                (Case C-421/97)
                                                                                                  (98/C 41/31)
     (b) the use of LUWA-bottoms as a fuel is comparable
         with an accepted method of waste recovery,
                                                                        Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                        European Communities by judgment of 13 November
     (c) the substance used is a main product or a by-                  1997 of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Meaux
         product (residue)?                                             (Regional Court, Meaux), (First Chamber), which was
                                                                        received at the Court Registry on 11 December 1997, for
                                                                        a preliminary ruling in the case of Yves Tarantik v.
(1) The material known as LUWA-bottoms is one of the by-                Direction des Services Fiscaux (Central Tax Office), Seine-
    products of the production process used by the appellant. In        et-Marne, on the following questions:
    addition to propylene oxide and tertiary butyl alcohol the
    production process generates a flow of hydrocarbons
    containing molybdenum. The molybdenum is from catalysts             Considering the date of road authorization of the
    used for the production of the propylene oxide. In a plant          plaintiff's Jaguar car, which has a fiscal horsepower value
    intended for that purpose molybdenum is recovered from the          of 24 hp, bears the registration number 197 AT 77, and
    flow of hydrocarbons whereby the material designated by the         was first put on the road on 11 April 1979, and having
    appellant as LUWA-bottoms is obtained. LUWA-bottoms have
                                                                        regard to the graphical representations and outline of the
    a calorific value of 25 to 28 MJ/kg.
(2) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 47.                                         developments in taxation submitted by the plaintiff, on
                                                                        the one hand, and by the French tax authorities, on the
                                                                        other, does the system of taxation applied correspond to
                                                                        objective criteria lacking in any discriminatory effect
                                                                        prohibited by Article 95 of the EEC Treaty? In particular: