The present case revolves around the issue of whether federal facilities owned by the Bonneville Power Agency (BPA) were legally obligated to pay fees imposed by the cities of Renton and Vancouver in order to fund the stormwater mitigation efforts required under state law and the Clean Water Act (CWA). The legal principle of sovereign immunity at issue in the case states that the federal...

In its judgment, the ECJ confirmed that Article 10 of Directive 1999/31 and Articles 1 to 3 of Directive 2000/35 have direct effect. Article 10 demands that Member States take measures to ensure that costs of landfill sites’ establishment, operation, and closure shall be covered by the price to be charged by the operator for the disposal of any type of waste in that site. This obligation is...

A group of California water rights holders challenged the constitutionality of a statutory and regulatory scheme that authorized the State Water Resources Control Board to collect annual fees from water rights’ holders. Plaintiffs argued that Water Code 1525 imposes an unconstitutional new ad valorem tax[ ] on real property since Proposition 13 prohibits this particular category of new taxes...

Pontina Ambiente, whose registered office was in Rome, collected and disposed of waste. In particular, it received, in a landfill intended for that purpose, solid waste from various municipal authorities in Regione Lazio, it stocks that waste and processes it in order to produce derivatives and compost and also to reduce its volume. Pursuant to Law No 549/95 and the regional Implementing law...

This reference for a preliminary ruling was made by the Corte costituzionale (Italy), in proceedings between the President of the Council of Ministers and the Region of Sardinia. The measure at issue concerned a regional ecotax by the Region of Sardinia on stopovers for tourist purposes by aircraft or by recreational craft (e.g. certain boats) and which is imposed only on undertakings who have...

This is a statutory appeal from a decision of the Forest Appeals Commission. The decision under appeal affirmed a reappraisal of the stumpage rate for a cutting permit issued to Canadian Forest Products Ltd. (“Canfor”). The appellant submits that the Commission erred in the interpretation of certain provisions of the Forest Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 157, relating to the assessment of stumpage rates...

The Plaintiff in 2006 (4th May 2006) filed by way of Originating Summons seeks an interpretation of the word "ship" as defined under Section 1 of the Protection of the Sea (Shipping Levy) Act No. 8 of 2003. "Ship" means "any sea-going vessel and any sea-borne craft of any type actually carrying oil in bulk as cargo."
In December 2005, the First Defendant advised the Plaintiff of the requirement to...

The Commission confirmed a reappraisal of a stumpage rate that applied to timber harvested under a cutting permit issued to Canfor. The reappraised stumpage rate was set out in a stumpage advisory notice issued in March 2007 by a Timber Pricing Officer with the Ministry of Forests and Range (the “Ministry”). The reappraisal was triggered when the Ministry determined that there had been a...

A group of California water rights holders challenged the constitutionality of a statutory and regulatory scheme that authorized the State Water Resources Control Board to collect annual fees from water rights’ holders. Plaintiffs Northern California Water Association and Central Valley Water Project Association argued that Water Code 1525 imposes an unconstitutional “new ad valorem tax[ ] on real...

The plaintiff unsuccessfully challenged the Minister's initial refusal to issue a certificate of compliance in respect of a property for which tax reliefs under the student accommodation scheme were to be sought. The case emphasises the importance of the certification requirements in the context of property tax reliefs.
The Court's observation that the right to appeal to the Appeal Commissioners...