DaimlerChrysler AG v Land Baden-Württemberg.
Date: 2001-12-13
32 It should be borne in mind that, where a matter is regulated in a harmonised manner at Community level, any national measure relating thereto must be assessed in the light of the provisions of that harmonising measure and not of Articles 30, 34 and 36 of the Treaty (see, in that regard, Case C-37/92 Vanacker and Lesage [1993] ECR I-4947, paragraph 9).
33 It should be pointed out, first of all, that the Regulation repealed and replaced Council Directive 84/631/EEC of 6 December 1984 on the supervision and control within the European Community of the transfrontier shipment of hazardous waste (OJ 1984 L 326, p. 31), which, as the Court has held, had introduced a complete system covering, in particular, transfrontier shipments of dangerous waste with a view to their disposal at establishments conforming to specific requirements and was based on the obligation of the holder of the waste to make a detailed notification in advance (see Case C-2/90 Commission v Belgium [1992] ECR I-4431, paragraph 20, and Case C-422/92 Commission v Germany [1995] ECR I-1097, paragraph 32).
34 The Regulation originated in a proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community (90/C 289/05), presented by the Commission on 10 October 1990. It appears from the grounds of that proposal that the choice of a regulation as the means of implementing the amendments to the Community legislation on shipments of waste was dictated by the need to ensure that the legislation was applied simultaneously and consistently in all Member States.
41 In an action brought before it for annulment of the Regulation, the Court held that the Regulation sets out the conditions governing shipments of waste between Member States and the procedures to be followed for their authorisation, those conditions and procedures having all been adopted with a view to ensuring the protection of the environment, taking account of objectives falling within the scope of environmental policy such as the principles of proximity, priority for recovery and self-sufficiency at Community and national levels (Case C-187/93 Parliament v Council [1994] ECR I-2857, paragraphs 21 and 22). The Court further observed, with a view to determining whether the Regulation could be validly adopted on the legal basis of Article 130s of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 175 EC), that the aim of the Regulation was to provide a harmonised set of procedures whereby movements of waste can be limited in order to secure protection of the environment (Parliament v Council, paragraph 26).
42 It therefore follows from the context in which the Regulation was adopted, from its nature, from the aims which it pursues and from its content, that it regulates in a harmonised manner, at Community level, the question of shipments of waste in order to ensure the protection of the environment.
44 In that context, the use in Article 4(3)(a)(i) of the Regulation of the expression in accordance with the Treaty cannot be construed as meaning that a national measure that satisfies the requirements of that provision must be subject to a further and separate review of its compatibility with Articles 30, 34 and 36 of the Treaty.
46 In the light of the foregoing considerations, the answer to the first question must be that where a national measure generally prohibiting exports of waste for disposal is justified by the principles of proximity, priority for recovery and self-sufficiency, in accordance with Article 4(3)(a)(i) of the Regulation, it is not necessary for that national measure to be subject to a further and separate review of its compatibility with Articles 34 and 36 of the Treaty.
Second question
62 Admittedly, implementation of that principle may in theory justify legislation that introduces an obligation to offer waste for disposal to an approved body, which sends the waste to treatment installations it controls, in so far as that obligation is justified by the need to ensure a level of activity indispensable to the viability of those treatment installations and, consequently, makes it possible to maintain treatment capacities which help to put into practice the principle of self-sufficiency at national level.
67 In that regard, the harmonisation in relation to shipments of waste achieved by the Regulation concerns not only the substantive conditions in which those shipments may be carried out but also the procedure applicable to those shipments.