Facts
In 2002, company [B.] purchased a building constructed in 1958 that contained asbestos in various construction elements. [B.] undertook renovation and asbestos removal work, estimated at nearly one million francs. [B.] requested the Department of Territory of the Canton of Geneva to establish a cost allocation key for the decontamination between the current owner and the former owner. The Geneva Administrative Court considered that the asbestos should be qualified as waste within the meaning of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) and that the building should therefore be considered a contaminated site, subject to the provisions on the remediation of contaminated sites. The Federal Office for the Environment and the former owner appealed against this decision.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal upheld these appeals and annulled the judgment of the Administrative Court. It considered that asbestos incorporated into construction materials cannot be qualified as "waste" within the meaning of the EPA, as it was used intentionally for its particular properties and not with the intention of disposing of it. Furthermore, a building containing asbestos does not correspond to the definition of a "contaminated site" according to the Ordinance on the Remediation of Contaminated Sites (OSites), which only targets final waste disposal sites, operating areas and accident…