In a reasoned opinion issued on 18 October, the European Commission partially ruled in favour of Poland in a case brought by Warsaw against Germany under Article 259 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, concerning illegal shipments of waste from Germany to Poland.
Article 259 allows a Member State which considers that another Member State has failed to fulfil one of its obligations under the Treaties to bring a case before the Court of Justice of the EU. The Member State must first refer the matter to the Commission, which issues a reasoned opinion after giving both parties the opportunity to comment.
In a complaint lodged with the Commission on 26 July, Poland claimed that Germany had infringed Articles 24(2) and 28(2) of Regulation 1013/2006 on shipments of waste, as well as Article 4(3) of the Treaty (duty of sincere cooperation) by refusing to take back waste shipped illegally from Germany to seven different locations in Poland.
In its reasoned opinion, the Commission considers that Germany has failed to comply with its obligations under Article 24(2) of the Regulation by failing to take back, within the 30-day time limit, the waste from one location (Tuplice) and to a certain extent by failing to take back waste from another location (Stary Jawor). This last finding relates only to shipments arranged by some of the operators, namely those who seemed to have the knowledge that the recipient of the waste did not have an appropriate waste management permit.
As regards the claims made by Poland for breaches of Articles 24(2) concerning the other shipments to Stary Jawor and shipments to the remaining locations, the Commission is unable to establish a breach by Germany for lack of sufficient evidence.
Furthermore, the Commission considers that Poland’s claim that Germany has infringed Article 28(2) of the Regulation by not accepting the classification of waste is unfounded. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)