Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 9 April 2014 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État — Belgium) — Ville d’Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Michel Tillieut, Willy Gregoire, Marc Lacroix v Région Wallonne

(Case C-225/13) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Environment - Waste - Directive 75/442/EEC - Article 7(1) - Management plan - Suitable sites or installations for the disposal of waste - Concept of waste management plan - Directive 1999/31/EC - Articles 8 and 14 - Landfills which have been granted a permit, or which are already in operation at the time of transposition of that directive))

2014/C 175/15

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Conseil d’État

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Ville d’Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Michel Tillieut, Willy Gregoire, Marc Lacroix

Defendant: Région wallonne

Intervening party: Shanks SA

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Conseil d’État — Interpretation of Article 7(1) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste (OJ 1975 L 194, p. 39) and Article 2(a) of Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (OJ 2001 L 197, p. 30) — Disposal of waste — Concept of waste management plan — National rule that no landfills may be authorised except on the sites provided for in the waste management plan — Derogating rule that authorises landfill permits issued before the entry into force of the waste management plan to be renewed — Concept of plan and programme

Operative part of the judgment

Article 7(1) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste, as amended by Commission Decision 96/350/EC of 24 May 1996, must be interpreted as meaning that a national legislative provision, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which provides that, in derogation from the rule that no landfills may be authorised except on the sites provided for in the waste management plan required by that article, landfills authorised before that waste management plan entered into force may, after such entry into force, be granted new permits in respect of the plots covered by the authorisation, does not constitute a ‘waste management plan’ within the meaning of that provision of Directive 2001/42, as amended by Decision 96/350.

Article 8 of Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste, as amended by Council Directive 2011/97/EU of 5 December 2011, does not, however, preclude such a national legislative provision which may be based on Article 14 of that directive and apply to landfills which have been granted a permit or which are already in operation at the date of the transposition thereof, provided that the other conditions set out in Article 14 are met, which it is for the referring court to ascertain.

(1)  OJ C 207, 20.7.2013.