From the Java doc:
CLASS: Annotations are to be recorded in the class file by the compiler but need not be retained by the VM at run time.
RUNTIME:
This answer makes perfect sense - https://stackoverflow.com/a/43910948/3009968.
You would not like to include a dependency, the desired effects of which are realized even before the code is compiled. E.g. @SuppressWarnings
You would not like to include a dependency which is used by compiler to let's say generate code but not at all required during runtime. E.g. as mentioned already in previous answer -spring roo.