24.1.2009

Official Journal of the European Union

C 19/5

(Case C-317/07) (1)

(Directive 2000/76/EC - Incineration of waste - Purification and combustion - Crude gas produced from waste - Definition of waste - Incineration plant - Co-incineration plant)

(2009/C 19/08)

Language of the case: Finnish

Referring court

Parties in the main proceedings

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Korkein hallinto-oikeus — Interpretation of Article 3(1), (4) and (5) of Directive 2000/76/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2000 on the incineration of waste (OJ 2000 L 332, p. 91) — Purification and combustion in a boiler of a power plant — Concept of waste — Concepts of incineration plant and co-incineration plant

Operative part of the judgment

1)The definition of ‘waste’ in Article 3(1) of Directive 2000/76/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2000 on the incineration of waste does not cover gaseous substances;

2)The definition of ‘incineration plant’ in Article 3(4) of Directive 2000/76 relates to any technical unit and equipment in which waste is thermally treated, on condition that the substances resulting from the use of the thermal treatment process are subsequently incinerated and that, in that connection, the presence of an incineration line is not a necessary condition for the purposes of such classification;

3)In circumstances such as those at issue in the main proceedings:

—a gas plant whose objective is to obtain products in gaseous form, in this case purified gas, by thermally treating waste must be classified as a ‘co-incineration plant’ within the meaning of Article 3(5) of Directive 2000/76;

—a power plant which uses as an additional fuel, in substitution for fossil fuels used for the most part in its production activities, a purified gas obtained by the co-incineration of waste in a gas plant does not fall within the scope of that directive.

(1) OJ C 211, 8.9.2007.