Action brought on 29 November 2023 – Republic of Poland v Federal Republic of Germany
(Case C-730/23)
Language of the case: German
Parties
Applicant: Republic of Poland (represented by: B. Majczyna and S. Żyrek, acting as Agents)
Defendant: Federal Republic of Germany
Form of order sought
The Republic of Poland claims that the Court should:
declare that the Federal Republic of Germany failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaties in so far as it shipped illegal waste into the Republic of Poland;
order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs of the proceedings.
Pleas in law and main arguments
By its action, the Republic of Poland claims that the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to comply with its obligations under Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 on shipments of waste. 1
In support of its action, Poland relies on the following three pleas in law:
Plea in law alleging failure to fulfil the obligation to ensure that illegal shipments of waste are taken back within 30 days (Article 24(2) of Regulation No 1013/2006)
By its first plea, Poland claims that Germany failed to fulfil its obligation under the first and second subparagraphs of Article 24(2) of Regulation No 1013/2006 to ensure the take-back of illegal shipments of waste within 30 days.
According to Poland, the shipments of waste from German territory to six sites in Poland (Tuplice, Stary, Jawor, Sobolew, Gliwice, Sarbia and Bzowo) constitue illegal shipments for which the German persons who arranged the shipments are responsible. Despite notification from the Polish competent authorities of the illegal shipments and the reasons why those shipments are illegal, neither those persons who arranged the shipments nor the German competent authorities ensured that the waste was returned to Germany within 30 days. Furthermore, the German competent authorities did not agree with Poland any other time period for the return of the waste.
Plea in law alleging failure to fulfil the obligation to regard waste as waste listed in Annex IV of Regulation No 1013/2006 (Article 28(2) of Regulation No 1013/2006)
By its second plea, Poland claims that Germany infringed Article 28(2) of Regulation No 1013/2006 with regard to shipments of waste from German territory to four sites in Poland (Sobolew, Gliwice, Sarbia, Bzowo).
With regard to those shipments, Poland claims that there are differences between Poland and Germany in the classification of the waste shipped. According to Poland, the shipments of waste consist of construction waste and mixed municipal waste, which therefore should have been subject to the notification procedure under Article 3(1)(b) of Regulation No 1013/2006. According to Germany, however, the waste is waste within the meaning of Annex III, which is subject to the simplified information procedure under Article 18 of Regulation No 1013/2006. Owing to those differences, Poland submits that there is an obligation on Germany under Article 28(2) of Regulation No 1013/2006 to regard the waste concerned as waste listed in Annex IV of Regulation No 1013/2006. Poland states that Germany has failed to comply with that obligation.
Plea in law alleging breach of the duty of sincere cooperation (Article 4(3) TEU)
Lastly, by its third plea, Poland claims that Germany breached its duty of sincere cooperation under Article 4(3) TEU by failing to adopt measures to clarify the circumstances surrounding the illegal shipment of waste.
According to Poland, Germany committed a series of failures during the procedure for the exchange of information and coordination of measures between the two States. Those failures and Germany's lack of active cooperation impeded Poland from determining the circumstances, made it impossible to ensure the full effectiveness of the provisions of Regulation No 1013/2006 and resulted in illegal shipments of waste remaining in the six sites in question in Poland for several years.
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1 Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste (OJ 2006 L 190, p. 1).