Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2004] All ER (D) 45 (Sep)
Court: Court of Justice of the European Communities (Second Chamber)
Judge:

Judges Timmermans (President of the Chamber), Puissochet (Rapporteur), Schintgen, Macken and Colneric
Judgment Dates: 8 September 2004

Catchwords

European Communities - Environment - Waste - Leakage of water saturated with hydrocarbons from service station operated by manager under agreement with defendants - Applicability of directive - Preliminary ruling - Council Directive (EC) 75/442, art 1(a), (b), (c).

The Case

Hydrocarbons which were unintentionally spilled and caused soil and groundwater contamination were waste within the meaning of art1(a) of Council Directive (EC) 75-442 on waste, as amended by Council Directive (EC) 91-156. The same was true for soil contaminated by hydrocarbons, even if it had not been excavated. In circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, the petroleum undertaking which supplied the service station could be considered to be the holder of that waste within the meaning of art1(c) of the directive only if the leak from the service station's storage facilities which gave rise to the waste could be attributed to the conduct of that undertaking.

Practice Areas

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