Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Environment — Waste — Directive 75/442 on waste — Regulation No 259/93 on the shipment of waste — Classification of an operation as either disposal or recovery — Dual classification not permissible — ( Council Regulation No 259/93; Council Directive 75/442)

2. Environment — Waste — Directive 75/442 on waste — Regulation No 259/93 on the shipment of waste — Classification of an operation as either disposal or recovery — Treatment of waste in several stages — First operation after shipment taken into account — ( Council Regulation No 259/93; Council Directive 75/442)

3. Environment — Waste — Directive 75/442 on waste — Combustion of waste — Classification of an operation as either disposal or recovery — Criteria — Calorific value not relevant — ( Council Directive 75/442, Annex IIA, point D10 and Annex IIB, point R1)

4. Environment — Waste — Directive 75/442 on waste — Regulation No 259/93 on the shipment of waste — Classification of an operation as either disposal or recovery — Definition by Member States of distinguishing criteria — Whether permissible — Condition — ( Council Regulation No 259/93; Council Directive 75/442)

Summary

1. For the purpose of applying Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156 and Decision 96/350, and Regulation No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community, as amended by Regulation No 120/97, it must be possible to classify any waste treatment operation as either disposal or recovery, and a single operation may not be classified simultaneously as both a disposal and a recovery operation.

see para. 40

2. It follows from Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156 and Decision 96/350, and from Regulation No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community, as amended by Regulation No 120/97, that where a waste treatment process comprises several distinct stages of recovery or disposal, the process as a whole is not to be assessed as a single operation, but each phase must be classified separately for the purpose of implementing the Regulation when it constitutes a distinct operation in itself.

Accordingly, where a waste treatment process comprises several distinct stages, it must be classified as a disposal operation or a recovery operation, within the meaning of Directive 75/442, for the purpose of implementing Regulation No 259/93, taking into account only the first operation that the waste is to undergo subsequent to shipment.

see paras 41-42, operative part 1

3. The calorific value of waste which is to be combusted is not a relevant criterion for the purpose of determining whether that operation constitutes a disposal operation as referred to in point D10 of Annex IIA to Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156 and by Decision 96/350, or a recovery operation as referred to in point R1 of Annex IIB thereof. In order to be considered as use principally as a fuel or other means to generate energy within the meaning of that point, it is both necessary and sufficient that the combustion of waste meet the three following conditions: first, the main purpose of the operation concerned must be to enable the waste to be used as a means of generating energy; secondly, the conditions in which that operation is to take place must give reason to believe that it is indeed a "means to generate energy" ; and thirdly, the waste must be used principally as a fuel or other means of generating energy.

see paras 53, 56, operative part 2

4. Regulation No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community, as amended by Regulation No 120/97, does not preclude Member States from laying down, in acts having general scope, criteria for distinguishing between a recovery operation and a disposal operation, provided that the criteria comply with those laid down in Directive 75/442 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156 and Decision 96/350.

see paras 55-56, operative part 2