On 8 October, the European Commission has decided to take the UK to the ECJ over waste water collection systems.
Pursuant to 1991 Directive on Urban Waste Water Treatment, Member States were required to put in place adequate waste water collecting systems and treatment facilities for large cities and towns by the end of 2000. The directive provides that the waste waters collected shall undergo appropriate treatment before they are released.
The Commission has pointed out that collecting systems and treatment plants may be allowed to spill waste water in emergency situations. However, according to the Commission, London and Whitburn waste water collecting systems “(…) are being allowed to spill untreated waste waters from storm water overflows too frequently and in excessive quantities.”
Moreover, the Commission has stressed that treatment capacity for the waste waters collected in London needs to be improved.
Consequently, the Commission is taking the UK to the ECJ on the grounds that urban waste water collecting systems and treatment facilities in London and Whitburn do not comply with the 1991 EU directive on urban waste water treatment. The UK might have to spend millions to improve its waste water collecting systems.
The European Commission is also referring the UK to the ECJ over improper implementation of an ECJ ruling on cross-border loss relief.
Marks & Spencer has sought to claim U.K. tax relief on losses incurred in other EU Member States. The Court held, in 2005, in the Marks & Spencer case, that the U.K. group relief provisions breached the EU freedom of establishment. The U.K. law applied different treatment to losses sustained by a resident subsidiary and losses sustained by a non-resident subsidiary.
The Court ruled that it is contrary to Articles 43 EC and 48 EC (right to establishment) to prevent a resident parent company from deducting from its taxable profits losses incurred in another Member State by a subsidiary established in that Member State where the non-resident subsidiary has exhausted all possibilities for relief in its State of establishment.
Consequently, the UK has had to amend its law namely the 1988 Income and Corporation Taxes Act (ICTA). However, according to the Commission, the UK has not, correctly, implemented the ECJ ruling in Marks & Spencer on cross-border loss relief. The Commission has stated that the “UK continues to impose conditions on cross-border group loss relief which in practice make it impossible or virtually impossible for the taxpayer to benefit from such relief in accordance with the judgment in Marks & Spencer.” If the Court considers that the UK has not complied with its judgement it may impose a lump sump or penalty payment on the UK.
