Commission v. Italy: Managing Waste Management in Italy

Abstract

In the recently decided case C‐196/13 (Commission v. Italy), the Court of Justice of the European Union has imposed upon Italy record financial sanctions for its breach of European Union environmental law. The judgment, reached through the enforcement proceedings under Article 260.2 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, followed a 2007 infringement ruling establishing that Italy had generally and persistently failed to fulfill its waste management obligations. The present case raises several interesting questions, such as how much progress does a Member State need to make to remedy a general and persistent failure of its obligations, and how to determine the appropriate amount of financial sanctions for such a breach. This case note analyzes the factual and legal background to the case and argues that, given all the circumstances, the Court's judgment can hardly be seen to be surprising.