Opinion of Mrs Advocate General Rozès

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

The question which has been referred to the Court by the Cour d'Appel, Lyon, for a preliminary ruling raises the issue of the compatibility with Community law of provisions laid down by regulation in France to implement Council Directive 75/439/EEC of 16 June 1975 on the disposal of waste oils (Official Journal, L 194, p. 23).

Both the proceedings before the national court and the observations which have been submitted to the Court of Justice essentially relate to points of fact and law which are known to the Court and on which judgment has already been given on 10 March 1983 in Case 172/82 Inter-Huiles [1983] ECR 555 on a reference from the Tribunal de Grande Instance, Versailles. In view of the identical subject-matter of both references, I shall confine my examination to the peculiarities which distinguish this case, considering successively the new points of fact and of law.

I — Questions of fact

The case concerns, on the one hand, the possible extension of the Court's ruling in Inter-Huiles to include a new category of undertakings and, on the other hand, the consideration of certain technical and economic factors.

1. In the earlier case, the question submitted concerned only collectors of waste oils. The Cour d'Appel, Lyon, has opted for a wider form of words which includes holders of that product.

2. The Syndicat National des Fabricants Raffineurs d'Huiles de Graissage has adverted, on the one hand, to the findings of a technical inquiry (the Intercomm report), and, on the other, to the nature of the trade in waste oils within the Community.

2.1. The Intercomm report was drawn up at the request of the Commission and delivered at the end of 1980. In substance, it recommends that waste oils should be treated by recycling, which is preferable to burning for ecological, economic and social reasons and for the conservation of energy.

2.2. There remains the argument that the disparity in the legislation of the Member States, which is due to different approaches to the treatment of waste oils, has led to certain economic distortions. The statistics supplied by the Commission at the request of the Court in Case 172/82 show that France is the main exporter of waste oils in the European Economic Community (with more than 80% of annual exports within the Community). The French Government and the Syndicat National point out the contradiction between these figures and the restrictions which the French rules are supposed to produce.

II — Questions of law

It would be appropriate at this point to consider how the Court's decision in Inter-Huiles is affected by the Commission's proposal for a directive on transfrontier shipment of hazardous wastes and by a French Government note stating its rules on the export of waste oils.

1. The Commission has submitted a Proposal for a Council Directive on the supervision and control of transfrontier shipment of hazardous wastes within the European Community (Official Journal 1983, C 53, p. 3). Article 2 of that proposed directive includes waste oils in the definition of hazardous waste of which the shipment is accordingly subjected to stringent control procedures.

2. The effect of that memorandum, which was dated 26 October 1982 and addressed to the principal customs officers for the French regions, raises more sensitive issues, but I do not think that they should lead the Court to reverse its judgments in Inter-Huiles.

1 Translated from the French.

2 Cf. my Opinion in Case 172/82 at paragraph II (2) (b), p. 570.

3 Case 172/82 [1983] ECR 555, at p. 566, paragraph 14.