Opinion of the Advocate-General
1. In this case the Commission of the European Communities seeks a declaration by the Court that the French Republic has failed to adopt or notify, within the prescribed period, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to transpose fully Council Directive 96/59/EC of 16 September 1996 on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated terphenyls (PCB/PCT). The transposition period laid down in Article 12 of that directive expired on 16 March 1998.
2. According to Article 1, the purpose of Directive 96/59/EC is to approximate the laws of the Member States on the controlled disposal of PCBs, the decontamination or disposal of equipment containing PCBs and/or the disposal of used PCBs in order to eliminate them completely on the basis of the provisions of this directive.
3. Under Article 3, Member States must take the necessary measures to ensure that used PCBs are disposed of and PCBs and equipment containing PCBs are decontaminated or disposed of as soon as possible. For the equipment and the PCBs contained therein, which are subject to inventory in accordance with Article 4(1), decontamination and/or disposal must be effected at the latest by the end of 2010.
4. Under Article 4(1) of the directive, Member States are to ensure that inventories are compiled of equipment with PCB volumes of more than 5 dm3, and to send summaries of such inventories to the Commission at the latest on 16 September 1999.
5. Under Article 6(3), equipment containing PCBs which is not subject to inventory in accordance with Article 4(1) and which is part of another piece of equipment is to be removed and collected separately when the latter equipment is taken out of use, recycled or disposed of. Under Article 11, Member States must, by 16 September 1999, draw up plans for the decontamination and/or disposal of inventoried equipment and the PCBs contained therein and outlines for the collection and subsequent disposal of equipment, as referred to in Article 6(3). Member States are to communicate these plans and outlines to the Commission without delay.
6. The French authorities submitted to the Commission Decree No 2001/63 of 18 January 2001 which provides for a procedure for setting up a national inventory of equipment with PCB volumes of more than 5 dm³ which is to form the basis for a national plan for the decontamination or disposal of inventoried equipment to be drawn up at a later stage. On 13 February 2001, an order implementing the decree was made whose purpose is to call upon the owners of equipment containing PCBs to report such equipment to the competent authorities.
7. The Commission takes the view that the directive in question has not been fully implemented in French law. First, it claims that the introduction of a procedure for setting up a national inventory does not overcome the objection that no summary of the inventories has been communicated to it pursuant to Article 4(1) of the directive. Second, it considers that the adoption of the decree is not sufficient to overcome the objection that this Member State has failed to draw up plans for the decontamination and/or disposal of contaminated equipment or outlines for the collection and subsequent disposal of equipment which has not been inventoried, pursuant to Article 11 of the directive.
8. The French Government does not dispute the Commission's complaints. It points out that the establishment of the procedure to fulfil the obligations laid down in Articles 4 and 11 of the directive took longer than anticipated and that technical difficulties linked to the computerised system used caused additional delay.
Conclusion
9. I therefore propose that the Court should:
- declare that, by failing to communicate to the Commission a summary of the inventories of equipment with PCB volumes of more than 5 dm3, plans for the decontamination and/or disposal of the inventoried equipment and the PCBs contained therein, and outlines for the collection and subsequent disposal of equipment which is not subject to inventory in accordance with Article 4(1) and referred to in Article 6(3) of Council Directive 96/59/EC of 16 September 1996 on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated terphenyls (PCB/PCT), the French Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 4 and 11 of that directive;
- order the French Republic to pay the costs.
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