Action brought on 23 May 2017 — European Commission v Romania

(Case C-301/17)

(2017/C 239/51)

Language of the case: Romanian

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: L. Nicolae and E. Sanfrutos Cano, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Romania

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments

The action brought by the European Commission against Romania concerns the latter’s failure to fulfil its obligations under Article 14(b) in conjunction with Article 13 of Directive 1999/31/EC, in so far as concerns 68 landfill sites which were not granted, in accordance with Article 8, a permit to continue to operate and, accordingly, should have been closed, in accordance with Articles 7(g) and 13 of that directive.

The Commission maintains that Article 14 of Directive 1999/31/EC lays down transitional derogating rules for landfill sites which had been granted a permit or were already in operation at the time of transposition of the directive, with a view to ensuring that, by 16 July 2009 at the latest, those sites complied with the new environmental requirements laid down in Article 8 of that directive. Under Article 14(b), 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 the directive. Member States are to take the necessary measures required to close down as soon as possible, in accordance with Articles 7(g) and 13, sites which have not been granted, in accordance with Article 8, a permit to continue to operate.

Article 13 provides that a landfill, or part of it, may be considered definitively closed only 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.

As regards the 68 landfill sites specified in the application, the Commission considers that Romania has failed to provide information that would enable it to confirm that, not only had those landfill sites ceased to operate, but also the process for their closure had, in fact, been completed in accordance with the requirements laid down in Directive 1999/31/EC. In that regard, the Commission maintains that Romania, in justifying the failure to meet the obligations arising under the directive, cannot rely on purely domestic situations, such as the bankruptcy of operators, disputes relating to property law, the conduct of administrative proceedings or the responsibility of local authorities.

The time-limit for the transposition of the directive into domestic law expired on 16 July 2009.