Action brought on 23 April 2026 – European Commission v Romania

(Case C-389/26)

(C/2026/3050)

Language of the case: Romanian

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: A. Biolan and D. Milanowska, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Romania

Form of order sought

The Commission claims that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments

According to Article 14(b) of Directive 1999/31, following the presentation of the conditioning plan, the competent authorities are to take a definite decision on whether operations may continue on the basis of the said conditioning plan and that directive. Member States are to take the necessary measures to close down as soon as possible, in accordance with Article 7(g) and Article 13 of the directive, sites which have not been granted, in accordance with Article 8 thereof, a permit to continue to operate. Article 14(c) of that directive provides, inter alia, that every existing landfill must comply with the requirements of the directive, with the exception of the requirements in point 1 of Annex I thereto, within eight years after the date laid down in Article 18(1) thereof. Given that the date laid down in Article 18(1) of Directive 1999/31 is 16 July 2001, the eight-year time limit expired on 16 July 2009.

According to Article 13 of that directive, a landfill or part of it may only be considered as definitely closed after the competent authority has carried out a final on-site inspection, has assessed all the reports submitted by the operator and has communicated to the operator its approval for the closure.

Accordingly, Article 14(b) of Directive 1999/31 requires, first, that the competent authorities take a final decision with regard to the operation of the landfill on the basis of the development plan and that directive and, second, that the Member States take the necessary measures to close down, as soon as possible, sites which have not been authorised to continue to operate. Thus, in a situation where a Member State chooses to close down a landfill which does not comply with the requirements of the directive, that procedure must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 14(b) and Article 13 thereof.

Article 14(c) of Directive 1999/31 implies that, in principle, existing landfills which do not comply with the requirements of that directive (with the exception of point 1 of Annex I thereto) could continue to operate only until 16 July 2009.

Romania acceded to the European Union on 1 January 2007. Pursuant to the Act of Accession, Romania was granted an exemption from the application of certain provisions of the Landfill Directive with regard to 101 landfills. More specifically, by way of derogation from Article 14(c) of Directive 1999/31 and points 2, 3, 4, and 6 of Annex I thereto, and without prejudice to Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste (3) and Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste (4), the requirements relating to water control and leachate management, protection of soil and water, and gas control and stability did not apply to those 101 existing municipal landfills until 16 July 2017.

In the present case, on 30 October 2020, the Commission sent Romania a letter of formal notice. On 7 February 2024, the Commission sent Romania a reasoned opinion. Following an analysis of the responses provided and other available information, the Commission came to the conclusion that Romania had not yet taken measures to close down nine municipal landfills, identified in the application initiating the proceedings, out of the 101 landfills referred to above. Thus, Romania is still failing to fulfil its obligations under Article 14(b) of Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste, in conjunction with Article 13 thereof, as well as letter (a) of point 3 of Section B of Chapter 9 of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania.

(1)   OJ 1999 L 182, p. 1.

(2)   OJ 2005 L 157, p. 203.

(3)   OJ 1975 L 194, p. 39.

(4)   OJ 1991 L 377, p. 20.