Commission of the European Communities v Federal Republic of Germany.
Date: 1999-09-09
33 It is settled case-law, as the German Government points out, that the transposition of a directive into national law does not necessarily require the provisions of the directive to be enacted in precisely the same words in a specific express legal provision, and a general legal context may be sufficient if it actually ensures the full application of the directive in a sufficiently clear and precise manner (see, in particular, Case C-339/87 Commission v Netherlands [1990] ECR I-851, paragraph 6).
35 It should be borne in mind in this regard that one of the objectives of Directive 87/101 was to give priority to the processing of waste oils by regeneration. That objective, expressed in the second recital in the preamble to Directive 87/101, is inspired by the fact that regeneration is the most rational way of re-using waste oils in view of the energy savings which can be achieved.
36 The existence in a Member State of technical, economic and organisational constraints which prevent priority from being given to processing by regeneration makes it necessary to give effect to the subsidiary obligation, laid down in Article 3(2) of Directive 75/439, as amended, to take the measures required to ensure that any combustion of waste oils is carried out under environmentally acceptable conditions, in accordance with the provisions of that directive. That obligation is itself made dependent on the condition `that such combustion is technically, economically and organisationally feasible', which appears at the end of Article 3(2).
37 Only where waste oils are neither regenerated nor burned, on account of the constraints mentioned in Article 3(1) and (2) of Directive 75/439, as amended, are Member States subject to the even more subsidiary obligation, laid down in paragraph 3 of the same article, to take the measures necessary to ensure their safe destruction or their controlled storage or tipping.
38 With regard to the `technical, economic and organisational constraints' referred to in Article 3(1) of Directive 75/439, as amended, it should be noted that that expression forms part of a provision giving general expression to the obligation imposed on Member States and that, as such, it is not to be interpreted restrictively as proposed by the Commission.
39 It is clear from Article 3(1) of Directive 75/439, as amended that, by its reference to `technical, economic and organisational constraints',  the Community legislature did not intend to provide limited exceptions to a rule having general application, but to define the scope and content of a positive obligation to give priority to the processing of waste oils by regeneration.
40 Contrary to the submission of the German Government, the definition of such constraints cannot be left to the exclusive discretion of the Member States. Apart from being contrary to the principle of the uniform interpretation and application of Community law, interpretation by the Member States alone would make the compatibility of processing by regeneration with technical, economic and organisational constraints a condition the fulfilment of which would depend entirely on the goodwill of the Member State concerned, which could thus render the obligation imposed on it worthless.
41 Accordingly, the provision relating to technical, economic and organisational constraints must be interpreted in the light of the other provisions of Directive 75/439, as amended, in order to ensure that the  directive is effective in its entirety.
42 The provision relating to constraints must be understood as an expression of the principle of proportionality; accordingly, Member States are under an obligation to take measures appropriate and proportionate to the objective of giving priority to the processing of waste oils by regeneration, which is to say that the limit to that positive obligation is the existence of the technical, economic and organisational constraints referred to in Article 3(1) of Directive 75/439, as amended.
43 If, as the German Government contends, the technical, economic and organisational circumstances obtaining in a Member State were automatically to constitute constraints making it impossible to adopt the measures provided for in Article 3(1) of Directive 75/439, as amended, that provision would be deprived of all practical effect, since the obligation imposed on Member States would be limited by maintenance of the status quo, with the result that Article 3(1) would not impose a genuine obligation at all.