Lahti Energia (Environment and consumers).

This reference for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 3 of Directive 2000/76/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2000 on the incineration of waste. The reference was made in the course of proceedings between Lahti Energia Oy ('Lahti EnergiČ), an undertaking owned by the municipality of Lahti, and Itä-Suomen ympäristölupavirasto (East Finland Environmental Permit Authority, 'ympäristölupavirasto') concerning whether a complex comprising a gas plant and a power plant is subject to the requirements of Directive 2000/76. The applicant stated that the gas that was produced in the gas plant was ‘purified’ by filtering out undesirable solid particles before being used as an additional fuel in the power plant. In its purified state the gas had properties similar to those of a fossil fuel. The applicant challenged the finding of the relevant permitting authority that the two plants should be classified together as a co-incineration plant. The ECJ held that the definition of waste under Article 3 did not cover gaseous substances, and hence the power plant did not fall within the scope of the directive. As for the gas plant, it should be considered a co-incineration plant as its objective was to obtain ‘products’ (ie purified gas) by thermally treating waste. The Court also held that the definition of an ‘incineration plant’ related to any unit ‘in which waste is thermally treated, on condition that the substances resulting from the use of the thermal treatment process are subsequently incinerated’. In that context, it was not necessary for a plant to have an incineration line in order to be classified as an incineration plant.