CELEX: C2004/262/16
Language: en
Date: 2004-10-23 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 7 September 2004 in Case C-1/03 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour d'appel de Bruxelles): criminal proceedings against Paul Van de Walle and Others and Texaco Belgium SA (Environment — Waste — Directives 75/442/EEC and 91/156/EEC — Meaning of ‘waste’, ‘producer of waste’ and ‘holder of waste’ — Soil infiltrated by leaked hydrocarbons — Independent operation of a service station belonging to a petroleum company)

23.10.2004   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 262/8
            
         
      JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
   
   (Second Chamber)
   of 7 September 2004
   in Case C-1/03 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour d'appel de Bruxelles): criminal proceedings against Paul Van de Walle and Others and Texaco Belgium SA (1)
   
   (Environment - Waste - Directives 75/442/EEC and 91/156/EEC - Meaning of ‘waste’, ‘producer of waste’ and ‘holder of waste’ - Soil infiltrated by leaked hydrocarbons - Independent operation of a service station belonging to a petroleum company)
   (2004/C 262/16)
   Language of the case: French
   In Case C-1/03: Reference to the Court under Article 234 EC from the Cour d'appel de Bruxelles (Belgium) for a preliminary ruling in the criminal proceedings pending before that court against Paul Van de Walle, Daniel Laurent, Thierry Mersch and Texaco Belgium SA, intervener: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale — the Court (Second Chamber), composed of: C.W.A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber, J.-P. Puissochet (Rapporteur), R. Schintgen, F. Macken and N. Colneric, Judges; J. Kokott, Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment on 7 September 2004, in which it has ruled:
   Hydrocarbons which are unintentionally spilled and cause soil and groundwater contamination are waste within the meaning of Article 1(a) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste, as amended by Council Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991. The same is true for soil contaminated by hydrocarbons, even if it has not been excavated. In circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, the petroleum undertaking which supplied the service station can be considered to be the holder of that waste within the meaning of Article 1(c) of Directive 75/442 only if the leak from the service station's storage facilities which gave rise to the waste can be attributed to the conduct of that undertaking.
   
      (1)  OJ C 44 of 22.2.2003.