The Role of the Eu Commission's Communications on the Legal Interpretation of Waste Management Regulations

In the field of environmental protection, the European Union has shared regulatory competence, which gives it the right to legislate and adopt legally binding acts in this field. The member states of the European Union know and recognize the importance of Union regulations, as they are regulated in art. 288 of the TFEU. The jurisprudence of the CJEU shows that compared to the instruments listed in Article 288 of the TFEU, practice has led to the emergence of a whole series of unique documents, such as: interinstitutional agreements, resolutions, conclusions, communications, green papers and white papers. The European Commission, in terms of environmental protection, but not only, expresses its views on Union policies and legislation through its communications to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. This article, through the study carried out on 114 communications of the Commission elaborated between 1999-2023, investigates the role they have in establishing environmental policies, in the elaboration of new normative acts or the modification of existing ones, but also their role in the interpretation and application of existing legislation. A situation generated by three communications of the Commission is highlighted through which it, by imposing the issued interpretations, determines legal effects in the field of waste management legislation. In conclusion, both the new trend of legislation at the Union level through soft law and the new role offered to the Commission's communications are discussed. It is concluded that the increasingly blurred demarcation between hard law and soft law has effects including in the field of waste management and that it cannot be left up to communications to identify a correct definition or explain it in a form that must be known by those to whom the main normative act in question is addressed.