On December 17, 2015 the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) in Warsaw dismissed cassation appeals of ten housing estates from Poznań that concerned the judgments of the Provincial Administrative Court dismissing the complaints against resolutions of the Inter-Municipal Union “Poznań Agglomeration Waste Management” (Zgromadzenie Związku Międzygminnego „Gospodarka Odpadami Aglomeracji Poznańskiej” – GOAP) as regards the specimen of declaration of fees for municipal waste management.
With the same the SAC concluded the dispute which has been under way on the initiative of the housing estates since August 2013. In the dispute the housing estates claimed that they should not be obligated to declare the fees for municipal waste management as required by the act on maintaining cleanliness and order in municipalities, the so called “waste act”.
By presenting the oral motives of justification, SAC indicated that both the Provincial Administrative Court and Inter-Municipal Union “Poznań Agglomeration Waste Management” interpreted the regulations of the act correctly. SAC was in favor of the broad interpretation of the term „owner” used in the „waste act”, and with the same concluded that a housing estate, as an entity falling within the definition of an „owner”, could have been obligated to declare the fees for municipal waste management.
We accept SAC’s judgment with satisfaction, as it confirms our interpretation of the regulations – says Anna Romejko-Borkowska, legal counsel at SWS Law Firm Strykowski Wachowiak – the plenipotentiary of GOAP. It was a leading case, and the matter raised many doubts, as there was no applicable judicature. The decision appealed against was the first one of the kind, where housing estates were formally disputed as owners, according to the amended regulations of the so called “waste act”. Yesterday’s adjudication of the Supreme Administrative Court shall undoubtedly contribute to enforcing the position of commune authorities in relations with housing estates and other entities obligated to submit declarations and to pay appropriate fees for municipal waste management.
