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Diari de Catalunya

Catalan Justice Upholds Waste Fees in Girona and El Prat

The High Court of Justice of Catalonia has rejected appeals against municipal levies for waste collection.

Generic image of a judge's gavel on a wooden desk, with blurred legal documents in the background.
IA

Generic image of a judge's gavel on a wooden desk, with blurred legal documents in the background.

The High Court of Justice of Catalonia has supported the fiscal ordinances of Girona and El Prat de Llobregat, dismissing the first appeals against the new waste fees.

The judicialization of new waste fees, which Spanish municipalities have been required to collect since April 2025, is consolidating. While the High Courts of Justice of Madrid, Castilla y León, and the Valencian Community have annulled these taxes in locations such as Madrid, León, and Elche, the situation in Catalonia is different.
The TSJC has rejected the first challenges against municipal waste collection levies. This decision, however, does not guarantee that future precedents will follow the same line, as each municipal case presents specific characteristics.
Two recent resolutions confirm this support for local regulations, dismissing and rejecting contentious appeals against the ordinances of Girona and El Prat de Llobregat. The Girona case is particularly relevant, as the TSJC has ruled on the merits of the matter and upheld the fiscal ordinance of the fee in a February ruling.
The appeal in Girona was filed by a tourist association, arguing that tourist use dwellings (HUTs) should be taxed with a domestic rate, lower than the current commercial one. The sufficiency of the economic and financial report for the fee was also questioned, as well as the lack of a payment system based on waste generation. The city council defended the full justification of the fee and the differentiation between domestic and commercial rates.
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"The economic and financial report is considered sufficient. There is no doubt that a HUT is used for commercial purposes, not private."

the court
The judges sided with the municipal position, dismissing the appeal and validating the commercial taxation of HUTs. This decision indirectly aligns with the actions of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) in 2026, which increased the fee for 11,000 tourist apartments that were incorrectly taxed as residential properties, generating almost 4 million euros in additional revenue.
Another aspect validated by the TSJC in the Girona ruling is the inclusion of awareness campaign costs in the fee paid by citizens. The magistrates noted that user collaboration is essential for the functioning of the new collection system.
Regarding the case of El Prat de Llobregat, the TSJC dismissed an appeal from a municipal party earlier this year for being filed out of time. A pending appeal from a commercial employers' association also saw its precautionary measures, which sought to suspend the commercial waste fee ordinance, rejected.

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