CELEX: C2001/045/26
Language: en
Date: 2001-02-10 00:00:00
Title: Case C-458/00: Action brought on 19 December 2000 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

C 45/14                EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                       10.2.2001
Action brought on 19 December 2000 by the Commission                    Action brought on 21 December 2000 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy                     of the European Communities against the Hellenic Repub-
                         of Luxembourg                                                                     lic
                         (Case C-458/00)                                                          (Case C-460/00)
                          (2001/C 45/26)                                                           (2001/C 45/27)
An action against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was
                                                                        An action against the Hellenic Republic was brought before the
brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communi-
                                                                        Court of Justice of the European Communities on 21 December
ties on 19 December 2000 by the Commission of the European
                                                                        2000 by the Commission of the European Communities,
Communities, represented by Hans Støvlbaek, of its Legal
                                                                        represented by Marie Wolfcarius, Legal Adviser in its Legal
Service, and Joselle Adda, a national civil servant on
                                                                        Service, and Maria Patakia, of its Legal Service, with an address
secondment to its Legal Service, acting as Agents, with an
                                                                        for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de ]a
address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos
                                                                        Cruz, of its Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
Gómez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service, Wagner Centre,
Kirchberg.
                                                                        The Commission claims that the Court should:
The Commission claims that the Court should:
                                                                        —     declare that, by failing to adopt and to notify to the
1.    declare that the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has failed                   Commission, within the time-limit laid down, the laws,
      to fulfil its obligations under Articles 2, 6 and 7 of                  regulations and administrative provisions necessary for it
      Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993                   to comply fully with Council Directive 96/48/EC of
      on the supervision and control of shipments of waste                    23 July 1996 (1) on the interoperability of the trans-
      within, into and out of the European Community (1) and                  European high-speed rail system, the Hellenic Republic
      Article 1(f) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC on waste (2)               has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty;
      in conjunction with point RI of Annex HB to that
      directive;
                                                                        —     order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.
2.    order the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 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                 In accordance with the third paragraph of Article 249 of the
Annex IIB to Directive 75/442, to which Article 1(f) of that            Treaty establishing the European Community, directives are
directive refers, that not only use principally as a fuel but also      binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member
the use of waste in connection with any other means of                  State to which they are addressed.
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          Under the first paragraph of Article 10 of the Treaty, Member
incinerate household waste without a link with an industrial            States are to take all appropriate measures, whether general or
manufacturing process, where that plant is capable of                   particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out
recovering a substantial proportion of the energy contained in          of the Treaty or resulting from action taken by the institutions
the incinerated waste. It rejects in particular the proposition         of the Community.
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        It is not disputed by the Hellenic Republic that it must adopt
plant’ in Directives 89/369/EEC, 89/429/EEC and 94/67/EC                measures to comply with the abovementioned directive.
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         The Commission records that until now the Hellenic Republic
it comes under recovery since none of those directives specifies        has not adopted the appropriate measures to incorporate that
that the incineration it governs constitutes a recovery or a            directive fully into Greek law.
disposal operation.
(1) OJ No L 30, 6.2.1993, p. 1.                                         (1) OJ L 235, 17.9.1996, p. 6.
(2) OJ No L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 39.