Commingling dispute could be referred to Europe

The ongoing fight over whether commingling is acceptable under the revised Waste Framework Directive could go to the European Court of Justice for determination.

The case involves reprocessors challenging the way Defra and the Welsh Government have interpreted the requirements of the revised Waste Framework Directive, in particular in relation to the level of sorting required and whether commingling material and sorting material in a MRF is acceptable.

Switching the court case to Europe could speed up a decision because if it had remained in the UK courts it might still have eventually needed a European ruling. However, it is thought likely thatif the case isreferredto the European court, itcould take some time for a hearing to be scheduled.

A Judicial Review hearing regarding the case is currently scheduled at Cardiff Administrative Court for February 26-28 (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, a spokesman for the court confirmed to letsrecycle.com today (January 11) that an application was received on December 27 from the claimants to refer the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Cases can be referred to the European Court where a ruling is required on complex areas of European law. Any ruling made by the court would be binding.

Cardiff

A three-hour hearing is now scheduled at the Cardiff court for January 24 to decide whether to approve the referral.

The Cardiff Administrative Court spokesman said: A three hour hearing is scheduled on 24th January. The Judge will decide whether it goes to the European Court or not.

The application was made on December 27th by Anthony Collins solicitors on behalf of the claimants. They think that one of the points should be referred to the European court rather than be dealt with by the Judicial Review. They want to take the whole case to the European Court.

If the Judge grants it the Judicial Review hearing will be taken off the list for February.

The application by the claimants is expected to disappoint those local authorities and waste management companies who had been hopeful of gaining resolution on the issue of commingling in February.