Master's Program 2004/2005 Technical and Fiscal Barriers ... - Lexnet

62000J0389 European Court reports 2003 Page 00000 8
contributions to reflect the actual costs incurred by the State, as contended by the German Government, it
should be remembered that the portion of those contributions used to cover the administrative costs of the
solidarity fund is not repaid. Likewise, the financial loss resulting from the forfeiture of the amounts in
question for three years - a loss not compensated for by interest - is, in any event, borne by the operators
concerned. Neither does the progressive reduction of the overall volume of the solidarity fund, which was
initially established at DEM 75 million and was under DEM 16 million at the time the present
proceedings were brought, shed light on the costs actually incurred by the State to meet its obligation to
return waste or establish that the individual contributions are set at a level which is adequate in relation to
those costs.
47 With respect to the issue of whether each contribution is proportional to the alleged benefit for each
operator, it should be recalled that, as the Court has found in paragraphs 35 to 37 above, the economic
operators called upon to pay the contributions to the solidarity fund do not derive any actual definite
specific benefit from the activities financed by the fund.
48 As for the possible discretion the Member States may have under Article 33(2) of Regulation No
259/93, it cannot, in any event, be used to levy additional, unjustified charges on notifiers.
49 The Court notes that appropriate administrative costs of implementing the notification and supervision
procedure and usual costs of appropriate analyses and inspections may be charged to the notifier, as
provided for in Article 33(1) of Regulation No 259/93.
50 Consequently, the Court finds that the contribution to the solidarity fund is a charge having equivalent
effect to a customs duty, which is prohibited by Articles 23 EC and 25 EC.
51 The Court thus finds that, by subjecting shipments of waste to other Member States to a mandatory
contribution to the solidarity fund established by the AbfVerbrG, the Federal Republic of Germany has
failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 23 EC and 25 EC.
DOCNUM 62000J0389
AUTHOR Court of Justice of the European Communities
FORM Judgment
TREATY European Economic Community
TYPDOC 6 ; CJUS ; cases ; 2000 ; J ; judgment
PUBREF European Court reports 2003 Page 00000
DOC 2003/02/27
LODGED 2000/10/20
JURCIT 61976J0046 : N 39
61976J0089 : N 39
61982J0158 : N 22
61983J0001 : N 39
61987J0018 : N 22 23 35 39
© An extract from a JUSTIS database
120