VG Čistoća d.o.o. v Đuro Vladika and Ljubica Vladika.
Date: 2017-03-30
24


Under Article 14 of Directive 2008/98, and in accordance with the polluter-pays principle, the costs of waste management are to be borne by the original waste producer or by the current or previous waste holders. The waste holders are subject to this financial obligation due to their contribution to the production of that waste (see, by analogy, judgments of 24 June 2008, Commune de Mesquer, C‑188/07, EU:C:2008:359, paragraph 77, and of 16 July 2009, Futura Immobiliare and Others, C‑254/08, EU:C:2009:479, paragraph 45).
25


So far as concerns the financing of the cost of management and disposal of urban waste, inasmuch as a service provided on a collective basis to a body of ‘holders’ is involved, the Member States are obliged, under Article 15 of Directive 2008/98, to ensure that, in principle, all the users of that service, in their capacity as ‘holders’ within the meaning of Article 3 of that directive, collectively bear the overall cost of disposing of the waste (see, by analogy, judgment of 16 July 2009, Futura Immobiliare and Others, C‑254/08, EU:C:2009:479, paragraph 46).
26


As EU law currently stands, there is no legislation adopted on the basis of Article 192 TFEU imposing a specific method upon the Member States for financing the cost of the disposal of urban waste, with the result that the cost may, in accordance with the choice of the Member State concerned, equally well be financed by means of a tax or of a fee or in any other manner. Accordingly, recourse to criteria of invoicing based on the volume of the container provided for users, calculated on the basis of, inter alia, the surface area of the property which they occupy and of its use, may provide a means of calculating the costs of disposing of that waste and allocating those costs among the various holders, in so far as this parameter is such as to have a direct impact on the amount of those costs (see, to that effect, judgment of 16 July 2009, Futura Immobiliare and Others, C‑254/08, EU:C:2009:479, paragraphs 48 and 50).
27


Consequently, national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which, for the purposes of financing the management and disposal of urban waste, provides for a fee calculated on the basis of an estimate of the volume of waste generated, and not on the basis of the quantity of waste actually produced and presented for collection, cannot, as EU law currently stands, be considered contrary to Article 14 and Article 15(1) of Directive 2008/98 (see, by analogy, judgment of 16 July 2009, Futura Immobiliare and Others, C‑254/08, EU:C:2009:479, paragraph 51).
29


In accordance with Article 15(1) of Directive 2008/98, Member States must take the necessary measures to ensure that waste producers collectively contribute to the investments necessary to fulfil the objectives in Article 11(1), Article 14 and Article 15(1) of Directive 2008/98, by reason of their contribution to waste production (see, by analogy, judgments of 24 June 2008, Commune de Mesquer, C‑188/07, EU:C:2008:359, paragraph 77, and of 16 July 2009, Futura Immobiliare and Others, C‑254/08, EU:C:2009:479, paragraph 46).
30


Although, as the relevant EU law currently stands, the competent national authorities have a wide discretion with regard to determining how prices are calculated, such as for waste management costs and the additional levy at issue in the main proceedings, it is nonetheless incumbent on the referring court, on the basis of the facts and points of law placed before it, to determine whether the price charged and that additional levy do not result in the imposition on certain ‘holders’ of costs that are manifestly disproportionate to the volume or to the type of waste that they are liable to produce (see, by analogy, judgment of 16 July 2009, Futura Immobiliare and Others, C‑254/08, EU:C:2009:479, paragraphs 55 and 56).