European Commission proposes tougher action on illegal waste shipments

The proposals, which include greater cooperation between national authorities and regular risk-based inspections of waste shipments, are intended to tackle the suspected 25% of waste shipments sent from the EU to developing countries that are thought to be in breach of international regulations, the Commission said.

"It's time for stricter controls in all member states - that's the best way of stopping dishonest exporters from taking advantage of the system," said Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik. "Today's proposal will help to reduce mismanagement of waste, make sure hazardous waste is dealt with properly and see that valuable resources are reused."

Existing EU rules ban all exports of waste for disposal from an EU member state to a non-member state unless the destination is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The export of hazardous waste from countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries is banned as a consequence of the lack of waste treatment capacity.

The Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) applies to all international waste shipments for all purposes, and therefore includes waste shipments under the Basel Convention and OECD control system, and classifies waste into categories.

The WSR does not currently contain any specific provisions on inspection planning or how inspections should be carried out. According to the European Commission, this flexibility meant that some member states had "thorough, well-functioning inspection systems" while others lagged behind. It said that this led to "port hopping", where exporters of illegal waste chose to use ports in member states with the most lenient controls for their waste shipments.

The proposed amendments would establish minimum inspection requirements throughout the EU (11-page / 149KB PDF), to ensure that "sufficient controls are carried out in all member states". Countries would be required to publish annual inspection plans, informed by regular risk assessments covering specific waste streams and sources of illegal shipments. They would be required to inspect collection points and storage facilities, so that any illegal activity can be caught earlier, and to require evidence of the legality and source of a shipment from the persons responsible for that shipment.

The Commission also proposes a clearer definition of what is termed as 'reuse', to ensure that resources are not being sent abroad when they still hold value. It plans to add a new provision to the WSR which would define reuse as "any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived". This could prevent the "leakage" of valuable raw materials, such as precious minerals like cobalt and indium in electronic waste, the Commission said.

Environmental law expert Simon Colvin of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the proposed changes would have "minimal impact" on the UK, as the Environment Agency (EA) and other regulators "stringently implemented" the current regime.

"The EA have had a number of recent successful prosecutions," he said. "These cases have also provided helpful clarification of certain obligations in the UK's Transfrontier Shipment Regulations, including who is considered to be included in the chain of responsibility when it comes to the handling of waste."

"When compared with our counterparts in the rest of the EU we are doing quite well in implementing the current regime, and the proposed amendments are widely seen as a response to failures by other member states," he said.

The amendments will now be sent to the European Parliament for consideration.