Brussels, 01/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has proposed a revision of the current Community regulation on the provisions applicable to waste shipments within, into and outside the EU. This regulation, which was adopted ten years ago, applies to almost all types of waste, whatever mode of transport is used (road, train, boat, aeroplane, etc). The proposal aims to strengthen existing control procedures, simplifying and clarifying them at the same time, which the Commission says will "benefit both the environment and waste shipment companies". The Commission also highlights the fact that "the proposal constitutes (...) progress towards greater international harmonisation of waste movements, in that it fully transposes the Bâle Convention on international movements of hazardous waste". The proposal reduces the number of procedures and the number of lists of waste from three to two. Margot Wallström says that "the strengthening and simplification of the control procedures will make it easier to adhere to them and thereby further improve the degree of environmental protection". The Environment Commissioner also said that "in the future, all shipments of hazardous waste will require explicit and written consent from the country of export as well a the country of import. The new provisions (...) will reduce the risks of uncontrolled shipments of waste".
The proposal introduces clarifications on the application and implementation of the current regulation, without altering its fundamental logic, i.e. that waste shipments must respect specific procedures depending on the type of waste being transported (whether or not it is hazardous), and on the type of treatment it will receive at its destination (recovery and disposal).
It provides for a written notification and consent procedure applicable to all shipments of waste to be disposed of and to hazardous and semi-hazardous waste for recovery. In its current version, the regulation provides two procedures for waste, one based on tacit and the other on written consent. The proposal gets rid of the tacit consent procedure, and the written procedure becomes standard. This should allow the control of hazardous waste to be carried out in the proper conditions, and in conformity with the Bâle Convention. For the shipment of non-hazardous waste (such as glass or paper) for recycling, the proposal requires only that these should be accompanied by certain information, with no need for notification or consent.
The proposal also provides for several new procedural guarantees to protect the rights of the notifying party, and specifies that a shipment must be controlled for its duration, until the final operation of recovery or disposal. In other words, waste cannot be left in an interim facility untreated and unmonitored. The final treatment, recovery or disposal, must be proven before the shipment can be considered as completed, and thus released from further controls.