C-376/00
ECLI:EU:C:2001:518
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OPINION OF MR RUIZ-JARABO — CASE C-376/00
O P I N I O N O F ADVOCATE GENERAL RUIZ-JARABO C O L O M E R delivered on 4 October 2001 1
1. The action before the Court, brought by waste oils 3 (hereinafter 'the Waste Oils the Commission of the European Commu- Directive'), as amended by Directive nities, seeks a declaration that the Italian 87/101/EEC. 4 Republic has failed to fulfil its obligation to forward the reports on the implementation of various directives relating to the protec- tion of the environment within the pre- scribed period. (b) Article 12 of Council Directive 75/442/ EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste 5(here- inafter 'the Waste Directive'), as amen- ded by Directive 91/156/EEC. 6 I — Legal background
2. The object of Council Directive 91/692/ EEC of 23 December 1991 standardising and rationalising reports on the implemen- 4. The new wording of the two articles is as tation of certain Directives relating to the follows: environment, 2 as stated in Article 1 thereof, is to 'rationalise and improve on a sectoral basis the provisions on the transmission of information and the pub- lication of reports concerning certain Com- munity directives on the protection of the 'At intervals of three years Member States environment.' shall send information to the Commission on the implementation of this Directive, in the form of a sectoral report which shall also cover other pertinent Community 3. Article 5 provided a new wording for the Directives. The report shall be drawn up following two provisions, among others: on the basis either of a questionnaire or outline drafted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 6 of Directive 91/692/EEC. The (a) Article 18 of Council Directive 75/439/ EEC of 16 June 1975 on the disposal of 3 — OJ 1975 L 194, p. 23. 4 — OJ 1987 L 42, p. 43. 1 — Original language: Spanish. 5 — OJ 1975 L 194, p. 39. 2 — OJ 1991 L 377, p. 48. 6 — OJ 1991 L 78, p. 32.
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questionnaire or outline shall be sent to the tive and Article 12 of the Waste Directive, Member States six months before the start both as worded in Article 5 of Directive of the period covered by the report. The 91/692, it requested the Italian authorities report shall be made to the Commission to take the necessary measures to remedy within nine months of the end of the three- the situation within two months. year period covered by it.
The first report shall cover the period 1995 to 1997 inclusive. 7. The Commission received no explana- tion from the Italian authorities concerning the absence of reports on the implementa- tion of the aforementioned directives, and thus brought the present action. The Commission shall publish a Commu- nity report on the implementation of the Directive within nine months of receiving the reports from the Member States.'
I I I— Claims of the parties and proceed- ings before the Court of Justice I I — Facts of the case
5. The Commission noted that the Italian Republic had not sent the reports corre- 8. In its application, the Commission sponding to the three-year period in ques- claims that the Court of Justice should tion, and so, under cover of a letter to the declare that the Italian Republic has failed Italian Republic of 20 July 1999, asked it to fulfil its obligations under Article 18 of to submit its observations within two the Waste Oils Directive and Article 12 of months. The Italian authorities did not the Waste Directive in their new wording. reply to that letter.
6. On 26 January 2000 the Commission 9. In its defence to the application, the delivered a reasoned opinion in which, Italian Government acknowledged that it after demonstrating that the Italian Repub- was unable to fulfil its obligations in time lic had infringed its obligations under, owing to difficulties in compiling the data. among other provisions, the aforemen- It added that, despite that fact, the reports tioned Article 18 of the Waste Oils Direc- have now been sent, albeit late. In the light
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of the above it trusts that the Commission down in the reasoned opinion, 7but also will discontinue the proceedings. acknowledges that it has subsequently only sent an incomplete report.
10. The Commission, in its reply, discon- tinued the proceedings as regards the fail- ure to fulfil the obligations under the Waste Directive, but maintained them as regards the Waste Oils Directive, as the data sent to 14. That incomplete fulfilment of obliga- it were incomplete, a fact which was tions, since it was late, is irrelevant and acknowledged by the Italian Government cannot be taken into consideration by the in its rejoinder. Court. 8The efforts made by the Italian authorities to remedy the situation are also of no consequence. The failure to send the pertinent information on the implementa- tion of the Waste Oils Directive to the 11. Neither of the parties has requested an Commission within the period laid down is oral procedure. objective and occurred when the period expired without the report having been sent, irrespective of the difficulties which arose in the implementation and the parti- cular internal circumstances of the Member State which may have been an obstacle to it. 9
IV — The failure to fulfil obligations
12. The withdrawal by the Commission of its claim concerning the Waste Directive leaves the dispute limited to the failure to fulfil the obligation to provide information 15. In the light of the foregoing considera- within the period prescribed in the Waste tions, I propose that, by failing to send the Oils Directive. necessary report on the implementation of the Waste Oils Directive to the Commission by the expiry of the period in the reasoned
7 — That is to say, the moment when, according to the case-law 13. The infringement is acknowledged by of the Court of Justice, the question whether a Member the defendant government, which not only State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be determined (see in particular, Case C-96/98 Commission v France admits that it did not comply with the [19991 ECR I-8351, paragraph 19, and Case C-435/99 Commission v Portugal [2000] ECR I-11179, paragraph 16. obligation to send the Commission the 8 — See Commission v Portugal, cited above, paragraph 16. report on the implementation of the direc- 9 — See my Opinion in Commission v Portugal, point 15, and tive before the expiry of the period laid the judgments cited therein.
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opinion, the Italian Republic has failed to ments complained of initially and did so fulfil its obligations under Community law. without making any submissions concern- ing the costs relating to the subject of the discontinuance. Nor did the defendant government make any submission on this matter. Consequently, in accordance with Article 69(2) and (5) of the Rules of Procedure, the defendant must be ordered V — Costs to pay one half of the costs, while for the rest the parties must bear their own costs.
16. The Commission discontinued the pro- ceedings in relation to one of the infringe-
VI — Conclusion
17. For the reasons set out above, I propose that the Court should:
(1) hold that the Commission has withdrawn its application so far as concerns the failure to fulfil the obligation to provide information laid down in Article 12 of Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste, as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC, and as worded in Article 5 of Council Directive 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 standardising and rationalising reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environ- ment;
(2) declare that, by failing to forward within the period prescribed the report on the implementation of Council Directive 75/439/EEC of 16 June 1975 on the disposal of waste oils, as amended by Directive 87/101/EEC, the Italian
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Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 18 of that directive, as worded in Article 5 of Directive 91/692;
(3) order the Italian Republic to pay one half of the costs and declare that, in respect of the other half, the parties are to bear their own costs.
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