Case C-405/10

Criminal proceedings

against

QB

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Amtsgericht Bruchsal)

(Protection of the environment – Regulations (EC) Nos 1013/2006 and 1418/2007 – Control of shipments of waste – Prohibition on the shipment of spent catalysts to Lebanon)

Summary of the Judgment

Environment – Waste – Shipments – Export for recovery of waste – Export to certain countries to which the OECD Decision on the control of transboundary movements of wastes does not apply

(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1013/2006, Arts 36(1)(f) and 37; Commission Regulation No 1418/2007)

Articles 36(1)(f) and 37 of Regulation No 1013/2006 on shipments of waste, read in conjunction with Regulation No 1418/2007 concerning the export for recovery of certain waste listed in Annex III or IIIA to Regulation No 1013/2006 to certain countries to which the Decision of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on the control of transboundary movements of wastes does not apply, as amended by Regulation No 740/2008, must be interpreted as meaning that the export from the European Union to Lebanon of waste, intended for recovery, which falls within category B1120 in List B in Part 1 of Annex V to Regulation No 1013/2006 is prohibited.

As the reference to category B1120, entered in column (a) in the ‘Lebanon’ section of the Annex to Regulation No 1418/2007, indicates, the Lebanese authorities have officially notified the Commission, in their response to the Commission’s request under Article 37(1) of Regulation No 1013/2006, that the shipment of such waste from the European Union to Lebanon, for recovery in that country, was prohibited.

That is the only interpretation consistent with the objectives pursued in this context by that regulation and it cannot be called into question by the fact that, in the case of Lebanon, waste in category B1120 was entered in column (d) of the Annex to Regulation No 1418/2007.

Moreover, the question whether the provisions of EU law are, in such circumstances, clear enough to yield the constituent elements of the national law definition of an offence, in accordance with the principle that every criminal offence and penalty must have a legal basis, which constitutes a general principle of EU law laid down in, inter alia, Article 49(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and which the Member States are required to observe when they prescribe a penalty to punish failure to comply with provisions of EU law, falls to be assessed by the national court.

(see paras 35, 38, 41, 47-49, operative part)