1. By application lodged at the Court Registry on 22 November 2002, the Commission of the European Communities brought an action under Article 226 EC for a declaration that, by failing to adopt all the laws, regulations or administrative provisions necessary to comply with Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste (OJ 1999 L 182, p. 1; "the Directive" ) or, in any event, by failing to notify such provisions to the Commission, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has failed to fulfil fully its obligations under Article 18 of the directive. The legal background
2. As stated in Article 1, the Directive aims, by way of stringent operational and technical requirements on waste and landfills, to provide for measures, procedures and guidance to prevent or reduce as far as possible negative effects on the environment from the landfilling of waste.
3. As provided in Article 18 of the Directive: "1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this directive not later than two years after its entry into force. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. ... 2. Member States shall communicate the texts of the provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this directive to the Commission. "
4. The Directive entered into force on 16 July 1999. The facts and pre-litigation procedure
5. In accordance with the procedure laid down in the first paragraph of Article 226 EC the Commission, having given the United Kingdom the opportunity to submit its observations, sent it a reasoned opinion, by letter of 21 March 2002, requesting it to take the measures necessary to fulfil its obligations under the Directive within two months of notification of the reasoned opinion.
6. The Commission stated in the reasoned opinion that the measures necessary for the implementation of the Directive in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar had not yet been adopted or, in any event, had not been notified to it.
7. In its reply of 4 June 2002 the United Kingdom accepted that the Directive had not been fully transposed within the period prescribed in the Directive, that is to say, by 16 July 2001.
8. However, it informed the Commission of various measures aimed at transposing the Directive: ─ as regards England and Wales, the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations were in the process of being adopted to implement the Directive with the exception of the obligations arising from Article 5(1) and (2). Other regulations were to be drawn up to implement those particular provisions during 2002. The text of the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations adopted was notified to the Commission by letter of 24 June 2002; ─ in Scotland, the Directive would not enter into force by 16 July 2002, when landfill site operators were required to submit site conditioning plans. The Scottish Executive would use a Ministerial Direction under section 40 of the Environment Act 1995 to require landfill site operators to submit site conditioning plans so that sites could be classified in accordance with the Directive; ─ new legislation was to be introduced in Northern Ireland so that the implementing regulations could be adopted in 2003; ─ in Gibraltar an ordinance to transpose the Directive would be put to the legislative body in July or September 2002.
9. Taking the view that the Directive had not been fully transposed in all the territory of the United Kingdom at the end of the period prescribed in the reasoned opinion, the Commission decided to bring the present action. The action
10. The Commission takes the view that even though the United Kingdom has kept it informed of progress made with a view to the transposition of the Directive, the fact remains that the Directive has not been fully transposed in all parts of the United Kingdom as required by Article 18.
11. The Commission argues that it was the duty of the United Kingdom authorities to initiate, in due time, the procedures necessary for transposing the Directive into domestic law so that those procedures were completed within the time-limit laid down, irrespective of their nature.
12. The United Kingdom Government does not dispute its failure to fulfil its obligations and accepts that the action is well founded. It explains, as it did during the pre-litigation phase that, as regards England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively, various provisions are in the process of being adopted in order to complete the transposition of the Directive.
13. According to settled case-law, the question whether a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be determined by reference to the situation prevailing in the Member State at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion (see, inter alia, Case C-143/02 Commission v Italy [2003] ECR I-2877, paragraph 11; and Case C-446/01 Commission v Spain [2003] ECR I-6053, paragraph 15).
14. The United Kingdom accepts that at the end of the period prescribed in the reasoned opinion, not all the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive had been adopted. Accordingly, the Commission's action must be considered well founded.
15. It must therefore be held that, by failing to adopt all the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 18 of the Directive.