Italy repeatedly rapped over waste

Waste is in danger of becoming a dirty word in Italy as authorities struggle with the crisis in Naples and find themselves hauled over the coals for three separate infractions of European law.


The ECJ has declared that by excluding from the scope of national legislation relating to waste excavated earth and rocks intended for re-use for filling, backfilling, embanking or as aggregates, with the exception of those from contaminated land and decontaminated sites Italy failed to fulfil its obligations under the Council Directive on Waste.

Judgment: C-194/05 may be accessed via the website of the ECJ at the following link:

www.curia.europa.eu

In a recent ruling the ECJ held that Italy failed in its obligations under Article 1(a) of the Council Directive on Waste in that it adopted operational instructions which excluded food scraps from the agro-food industry intended for the production of animal feed and leftovers from the kitchen preparation of solid foods which had not entered the distribution chain intended for shelters for pet animals from the scope of the legislation on waste.

Judgment: C-195/05 may be accessed via the website of the ECJ at the following link:

www.curia.europa.eu

The ECJ upheld a complaint by the Commission that Italy failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 1(a) of the Council Directive on Waste by adopting and maintaining in force restrictive legislative provisions, with respect to the concept of waste and its application, which excluded from national legislation on waste: substances, objects, or goods intended for waste disposal or recovery operations not expressly excluded and production residue which may be and is re-used in a production or consumption cycle without undergoing prior treatment or, if they do undergo prior treatment, that that treatment is not one of the recovery operations.

The commission contended that the legislative provisions had a restrictive effect with respect to the concept of waste and its application, in particular by removing a large part of recoverable waste from the scope of the national provisions transposing the Council Directive on Waste. The Court held that the fact that a substance is a production or consumption residue is evidence that it is waste and the mere fact that a substance is intended for re-use or capable of being re-used cannot be decisive as regards whether or not it is classified as waste.

Judgment: C-263/05 may be accessed via the website of the ECJ at the following link:-

www.curia.europa.eu

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