(4)On 25 January 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the ‘Court’), in its judgment in Case C-181/20note, declared Article 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU to be invalid in so far as it concerns photovoltaic panels placed on the market between 13 August 2005 and 13 August 2012, by reason of non-justified retroactive effect. The Court held that, prior to the adoption of Directive 2012/19/EU, the Union legislature left Member States the choice of requiring the costs relating to the management of waste from photovoltaic panels to be borne by current or previous waste holders or by the producer or distributor of the photovoltaic panels, pursuant to Article 14 of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote. Subsequently, the Union legislature established a rule, in Article 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU, under which those costs are to be borne by producers in all Member States, including in relation to products which the producers had already placed on the market at a time when Directive 2008/98/EC was in force. The Court held that that rule must be regarded as applying retroactively, and is therefore liable to infringe the principle of legal certainty, and that such retroactivity invalidates it as regards photovoltaic panels placed on the market prior to the entry into force of Directive 2012/19/EU.
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