Waste shipments: the latest from the European Union
Negotiators from the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement today to update the regulation on waste shipments.
The revised regulation aims to reduce shipments of problematic waste to countries outside the EU, to update shipping procedures to reflect the objectives of the circular economy, and to improve its application.
It establishes procedures and controls to ensure that international shipments of waste do not pose a threat to human health and the environment and to promote the use of waste as a resource in a circular economy within the EU.
The agreement is provisional pending formal adoption by both institutions.
What's new
The co-legislators agreed to expand the objectives of the regulation to include climate neutrality, the development of a circular economy and the achievement of the “zero pollution” objective.
The agreement covers intra-EU shipments of waste (with or without transit through third countries), waste imported and exported from and to third countries, and shipments of waste transiting through the EU en route to or from third countries.
The act prohibits shipments of all waste for disposal within the EU unless permitted and authorised under the strict conditions of the prior written notification and consent procedure and only where duly justified.
In contrast, intra-EU shipments of waste destined for recovery operations will continue to be authorised according to the less stringent procedure established by the general information obligations (“green list”).
The agreement contains an exemption for shipments of waste explicitly destined for laboratory analysis or experiments if the quantity of such waste does not exceed 250 kg. In this case, the shipment of such waste must comply with the regulation’s general information requirements.
With respect to the ban on intra-EU disposal, the latest version of the Regulation currently being amended sets very precise limits for approving this type of shipment in addition to the already known principle of proximity and self-sufficiency. Specifically:
Shipments of all waste for disposal are prohibited unless explicitly authorised in accordance with Article 11. In order to obtain authorisation for a shipment of waste for disposal in accordance with Article 11, the procedure of prior written notification and consent set out in Chapter 1 (Written Notification and Prior Consent) applies.
Article 11
(a) the notifier demonstrates that:
a. the waste cannot be recovered in a technically feasible and economically viable manner, or must be disposed of due to legal obligations in Union or international law;
the waste cannot be disposed of in a technically feasible and economically viable manner in the country where it was generated;
the planned shipment or disposal is in accordance with the waste hierarchy and the principles of proximity and self-sufficiency at Union and national levels as laid down in Directive 2008/98/EC.
In contrast, shipments for recovery with a written prior authorisation procedure are maintained without further restrictions.
The procedure
Under the prior written notification and consent procedure, notifiers within the EU and exporters to third countries must notify the countries of dispatch, destination and transit and receive written confirmation from them prior to export. The notification and other documentation required by the regulation must be submitted and exchanged via a central electronic system managed by the Commission.
In addition to the various simplified procedures envisaged, of particular interest is the introduction of a harmonised calculation method, which is to be implemented within two years of the publication of the new regulation and which could lead to substantial cost savings compared to the current situation:
"The Commission shall assess the possibility of establishing a harmonised calculation method for determining the amount of financial collateral or equivalent insurance, and if appropriate adopt an implementing act to establish such harmonised calculation method".
Waste exports
The agreement maintains the prohibition for Member States to export waste for disposal to third countries and to export hazardous waste for recovery to non-OECD countries. For shipments outside EU Member States, the co-legislators agreed that the waste management facilities in the country of destination should be audited by independent parties. Operators would be allowed to export waste to such facilities only if these audits show that the facilities treat waste in an environmentally sound manner.
The new regulation requires the Commission to create a register containing up-to-date information on facilities that have been audited to help waste exporters prepare their shipments.
Steps for approval
The provisional agreement will be submitted for approval to the representatives of the Member States in the Council (Coreper) and to Parliament's Committee on the Environment. If approved, the text will then have to be formally adopted by the two institutions after fine-tuning by the legal-linguists before the regulation can be published in the Official Journal of the EU and enter into force.
