EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 141/28

(Case C-120/09)

2009/C 141/50

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by: M. van Beek and J.-B. Laignelot, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Belgium

Form of order sought

—Declare that, by failing to transpose into Walloon law Article 2(f), (j) and (k) of, and point 4C of Annex III to, Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste, the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;

—order the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The European Commission raises two grounds of complaint in support of its action.

First, it alleges that the defendant has not transposed into the law of the Walloon Region the concepts of ‘underground storage’, ‘landfill gas’ and ‘eluate’ provided for by the provisions of Article 2(f), (j) and (k) of Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste. The Commission draws attention to the importance of those concepts which, being key concepts for the application of the directive, are also referred to in other provisions adopted on the basis of and in application of that directive.

Secondly, the applicant complains that Walloon law does not include any provisions relating to the trigger levels from which it can be considered that the location of the landfill has a significant adverse effect on groundwater quality. Point 4C of Annex III to the directive, which provides for the drawing up of such provisions, is crucially important in order to ensure effective control of groundwater quality and, consequently, to guarantee the protection of the environment which constitutes the essential objective of the directive.

(1) OJ 1999 L 182, p. 1.