Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 Preliminary rulings - Jurisdiction of the Court - Limits - Jurisdiction of the national courts - Establishment and evaluation of the facts - Application of provisions interpreted by the Court

(EC Treaty, Art. 177 (now Art. 234 EC))

2 Environment - Waste disposal - Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156 - Meaning of `temporary storage' of waste - Waste management within the meaning of Article 1(d) - `Temporary storage' not covered

(Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156, Art. 1(d), Annexes II A, point D 15, and II B, point R 13)

3 Environment - Waste disposal - Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156 - Member States under an obligation to ensure the recovery or disposal of waste - Temporary storage operations - Covered

(Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156, Art. 4)

Summary

1 In proceedings under Article 177 of the Treaty (now Article 234 EC), which is based on a clear separation of functions between the national courts and the Court of Justice, any assessment of the facts is a matter for the national court.

Accordingly, the Court has no jurisdiction to give a ruling on the facts in an individual case or to apply the rules of Community law which it has interpreted to national measures or situations, since those questions fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the national court.

2 There is a distinction between `temporary storage' of waste and `storage pending further operations'. Temporary storage is not covered by the term `waste management' within the meaning of Article 1(d) of Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156.

By stating that operations for the recovery or disposal of waste include storage pending further operations, but exclude temporary storage, point D 15 of Annex II A to Directive 91/156 and point R 13 of Annex II B thereto necessarily mean that there is a distinction between temporary storage and storage pending further operations. Storage pending further operations thus forms part of the disposal or recovery of waste, whilst temporary storage pending collection is expressly excluded.

Temporary storage consequently precedes waste management and, in particular, the collection of waste and constitutes an operation preparatory to the recovery or disposal operations set out in Annexes II A and II B to Directive 75/442, at points D 1 to D 15 and R 1 to R 13 respectively. Temporary storage pending collection, on the site where it is produced, is therefore to be defined as the operation preparatory to waste management within the meaning of Article 1(d) of Directive 75/442.

3 The competent national authorities are required, so far as concerns operations involving the temporary storage of waste, to ensure compliance with the obligations resulting from Article 4 of Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156, which requires Member States to take the measures necessary to ensure the recovery or disposal of waste.

In so far as waste, even waste which is stored temporarily, can cause serious harm to the environment, the provisions of Article 4 of Directive 75/442, which are intended to implement the principle of precaution, also apply to temporary storage. Notwithstanding the fact that undertakings holding waste, which store it temporarily, are not subject to the requirement of registration or authorisation provided for by Directive 75/442, all storage, whether temporary or pending further operations, as well as waste management within the meaning of Article 1(d) of that Directive must comply with the principles of precaution and preventive action which Article 4 of Directive 75/442 is intended to implement.