Changes from adopted text to adopted text

RemovedP9_TA(2023)0003

AddedP9_TA(2024)0087

Shipments of waste

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

PE719.861

ChangedAmendments adopted by the European Parliament onlegislative 17resolution Januaryof 202327 February 2024 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on shipments of waste and amending Regulations (EU) No 1257/2013 and (EU) 2020/1056 (COM(2021)0709 – C9-0426/2021 – 2021/0367(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

RemovedRecital 1: (1) It is necessary to lay out rules at the Union level to protect the environment and human health against the adverse impacts which may result from the shipment of waste. These rules should also contribute to the facilitation of environmentally sound management of waste, in accordance with the waste hierarchy laid down in Article 4 of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council31, as well as to the reduction of overall impacts of resource use and to the improvement of the efficiency of such use, which is crucial for the transition to a circular economy and for reaching climate-neutrality by 2050 at the latest. In this regard, waste management should be considered as one step of the product life-cycle spanning from production to secondary raw materials, for which sustainable innovative techniques which seek to improve material recovery, energy efficiency, and waste management’s overall contribution to decarbonisation should be prioritized.

Change 1

AddedThe European Parliament,

RemovedRecital 1 a (new): (1a) Waste treatment and disposal activities can, if not properly managed, have various negative impacts on the environment and on people's quality of life, some of which are difficult to mitigate. More information therefore needs to be made available online on the various waste management operations carried out, in terms of quantities, types, routes and associated destinations, as well as on the inspection and monitoring of waste management activities.

Added– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2021)0709),

RemovedRecital 1 b (new): (1b) Progress in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of waste management should be accompanied by measures to reduce the generation of waste addressing in particular the waste upstream in production and consumption;

Added– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 192(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C90426/2021),

RemovedRecital 3: (3) The European Green Deal34 sets out an ambitious roadmap to transform the Union into a sustainable, resource efficient and climate neutral economy. It calls on the Commission to review the Union rules on waste shipments established under Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006. The New Circular Economy Action Plan35 adopted in March 2020 further stresses the need for action to ensure that shipments of waste for re-use and recycling in the Union are facilitated, that the Union does not export its waste challenges to third countries and that illegal waste shipments are better addressed. In addition to the environmental and social benefits, this can also result in ameliorating EU’s strategic dependencies on raw materials. Keeping more of the generated waste within the Union will, however, require improved recycling and waste management capacity. Both the Council36 and the European Parliament37 have also called for a revision of the current Union rules on waste shipments established under Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006. To support the circular economy, innovative business initiatives such as taking back waste for the purpose of recycling, refurbishment, research or for improvement of product design should be supported.

Added– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

RemovedRecital 8: deleted

Added– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 23 February 2022,

RemovedRecital 10 a (new): (10a) Research and innovation should be an integral part of the European waste management sector. The research and innovation network for waste should include industry, universities and other research institutions. Accordingly, revisions of this Regulation and its relevant associated acts should take into account innovation in waste management techniques, where such techniques contribute to the environmentally sound management of waste.

Added– after consulting the Committee of the Regions,

RemovedRecital 10 b (new): (10b) To ensure a real transition towards a circular economy for shipments of waste from its place of origin to the best place of treatment for such waste, the principle of proximity, material efficiency as well as the need to reduce the environmental footprint of waste should be taken into account.

Added– having regard to the provisional agreement approved by the committee responsible under Rule 74(4) of its Rules of Procedure and the undertaking given by the Council representative by letter of 6 December 2023 to approve that position, in accordance with Article 294(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

RemovedRecital 11 a (new): (11a) This regulation should provide legal certainty and ensure uniform application of Union legislation within the area of waste management to facilitate compliance with the relevant provisions on protection of the environment and human health. Creating an undue administrative burden, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, should be avoided.

Added– having regard to Rule 59 of its Rules of Procedure,

RemovedRecital 16 a (new): (16a) To take account of innovation in waste treatment technologies with regard to environmental sound management, as well as of changes in consumer behaviour with regard to the sorting of waste, it is essential that Annex IIIB be continuously updated. The Commission should in particular assess whether to add entries on used footwear, clothing and other textile products, mineral wool and mattresses.

Added– having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (A9-0290/2022),

RemovedRecital 16 b (new): (16b) A well-functioning Union market for waste shipments should prioritise proximity, self-sufficiency and the use of the best available techniques in waste management as guiding principles. Achieving a fair transition to a circular economy is essential to attaining a climate neutral, resource-efficient and competitive Union economy that is sustainable in the long run.

Added1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

RemovedRecital 20: (20) It is necessary to provide for procedural steps and safeguards, when a notifier wishes to ship waste, in the interests of legal certainty and to ensure uniform application of this Regulation and the proper functioning of the internal market, contributing to long-term competitiveness of the Union. It is also necessary, in line with Article 6(11) of the Basel Convention, to ensure that the costs arising from situations where the shipment of waste subject to the prior written notification and consent cannot be completed or is illegal, are borne by the relevant operators. To this end, the notifier should establish a financial guarantee or equivalent insurance for each shipment of waste.

Added2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

RemovedRecital 22: (22) In order to reduce delays in the processing of notifications for the shipment of waste and facilitate the exchange of information between the relevant authorities and the economic operators, it is imperative that the issuance and exchange of information and data, which relates to individual shipments of waste within the Union, be made via electronic means. The central system and the national system should be interlinked and fully operational. To facilitate the reduction of delays, it is crucial that those systems allow document sharing and contain a fully searchable database of information related to shipments of waste. It is also necessary to empower the Commission to lay out the procedural and operational requirements for the practical implementation of the systems ensuring this electronic submission and exchange of information (such as interconnectivity, architecture and security). It is also necessary to provide sufficient time for competent authorities in the Member States and economic operators to prepare for the shift from a paper based approach, as laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006, to an approach to exchange information and documents electronically. This new obligation should therefore become applicable 24 months after the date of entry into force of this Regulation, before which access to the central system, in its final version should be granted to relevant authorities for the purpose of testing and learning.

Added3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

RemovedRecital 22 a (new): (22a) Competent authorities should ensure that there are alternative procedures as safeguards in the electronic system. In the event of a temporary failure of the central system, data should remain protected and accessible, and procedures related to shipments should be carried out without unnecessary delays.

AddedP9_TC1-COD(2021)0367

RemovedRecital 30: (30) With a view to ensuring that competent authorities are able to correctly process the documents submitted to them relating to the shipment of waste, while avoiding an undue administrative burden, the notifier should provide notifications, information, documentation or other communications in the official language of the Member State of the competent authorities concerned or in English. An authorised translation of these documents in a language acceptable to these authorities, should be provided if the competent authorities so request, but only in duly justified cases.

AddedPosition of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 27 February 2024 with a view to the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2024/… of the European Parliament and of the Council on shipments of waste, amending Regulations (EU) No 1257/2013 and (EU) 2020/1056 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006

RemovedRecital 31: (31) In order to avoid disruptions of shipments of waste or goods, due to a disagreement between competent authorities on the status of these waste or goods, it is necessary to set out a procedure to resolve such disagreements. It is important in that regard that competent authorities base their decisions on the provisions relating to the determination of by-products and to the end-of-waste status of Directive 2008/98/EC. It is also necessary to establish criteria for the classification of specific waste in the Annexes to this Regulation and to lay out a procedure to resolve disagreements between competent authorities as to whether waste should be subject or not to the notification procedure. In addition, in order to provide legal certainty and to avoid that waste are falsely declared as used goods, it is necessary to establish criteria to distinguish between used goods and waste, for specific commodities for which such distinction is important, especially for their export from the Union.

Added(As an agreement was reached between Parliament and Council, Parliament's position corresponds to the final legislative act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1157.)

RemovedRecital 36: (36) To protect the environment of the countries concerned, it is necessary to clarify the scope of the prohibition of exports of hazardous waste destined for recovery in third countries to which the OECD Decision does not apply, in accordance with the Basel Convention. In particular, it is necessary to clarify the list of waste to which that prohibition applies and to ensure that it also includes the waste listed in Annex II to the Basel Convention, namely waste collected from households, residues from the incineration of household waste and hard-to-recycle, contaminated or mixed plastic waste.

RemovedRecital 36 a (new): (36a) The Union should thoroughly rethink the management of its plastic waste, starting with prevention and ensuring that such waste is collected, reused and recycled.

RemovedRecital 36 b (new): (36b) Plastic waste poses particular challenges. There is a wide diversity of polymers, and they often contain hazardous additives and numerous contaminants. Measuring the levels of hazardous additives and of contaminants for export control purposes would require costly testing. Recycling levels for plastic waste are low, and the recycling of plastic waste can create large amounts of residual waste. Some major shipping companies are committed to stopping the transport of plastic waste to help curb pollution. In light of various problems created by plastic waste management in third countries, the Union should gradually phase out the export of all kinds of plastic waste outside of the Union and EFTA countries.

RemovedRecital 36 c (new): (36c) To ensure there is effective enforcement of the phase-out of export of plastic waste outside of the Union and EFTA countries, it is necessary to carry out regular monitoring and inspection at checkpoints, including to prevent any circumvention of the phase-out requirement by false claims that it is not waste.

RemovedRecital 36 d (new): (36d) To promote plastics recycling in the Union, a market for products containing recycled plastic should be supported. The Commission should assess the introduction of targets on recycled content, particularly, but no limited to, for products made out of plastic, and, where appropriate, submit a legislative proposal accordingly.

RemovedRecital 37 a (new): (37a) It is necessary to ensure that the shipment of waste that is necessary for building strong value chains is facilitated within the internal market, while ensuring that adequate controls are in place. Strengthening key value chains will accelerate the development of our resilience and enhance the Union’s strategic autonomy.

RemovedRecital 38: (38) Countries to which the OECD decision applies are subject to the rules and recommendations laid down by the OECD on the shipment and management of waste, and have generally higher standards for the management of waste than countries to which the OECD decision does not apply. It is however important that the export from the Union of non-hazardous waste for recovery does not create damages to environment and public health in countries to which the OECD decision applies. It is therefore necessary to establish a mechanism to monitor shipments of non-hazardous waste to such countries. In cases where there is a lack of information available demonstrating the ability of the country concerned to recover this waste in an environmentally sound manner, as well as information about the negative impacts of the management of domestic waste in the country concerned, the Commission should enter into a dialogue with the country concerned and, if the information is not sufficient to prove that the waste is recovered in an environmentally sound manner, be empowered to suspend such exports.

RemovedRecital 49: (49) To support and complement the enforcement activities of the Member States, the Commission should be empowered to carry out investigative and coordinating actions in respect of illegal shipments, which might have serious adverse effects on human health or the environment. In carrying out these activities, the Commission should act in full respect of procedural guarantees. The Commission may consider, as a matter of its internal organisation, entrusting certain enforcement actions foreseen by this Regulation to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which possesses relevant expertise in that regard. If competent authorities in the Member States of dispatch and destination are notified of an illegal shipment of waste, they should consider how they could increase their control measures for similar shipments to identify illegal shipments of waste at an early stage.

RemovedRecital 50: (50) Member States should provide the Commission with information concerning the implementation of this Regulation, both through the reports submitted to the Secretariat of the Basel Convention and on the basis of a separate questionnaire. The Commission should produce a report every three years on the implementation of this Regulation, based on the information provided by the Member States as well as on other information, gathered in particular through ad hoc reports by the Commission and the European Environment Agency on the shipments of plastic waste and other specific waste streams that are a source of concern. The central system for electronic submission and exchange of information and documents should be designed in such a way that data can be extracted from the system for the purpose of those reports.

RemovedRecital 52: (52) In order to facilitate the exchange of information and cooperation for the harmonised implementation of this Regulation, Member States should designate competent authorities and correspondents and notify them to the Commission, which should make this information publicly available.

RemovedRecital 54: (54) In order to supplement or amend this Regulation, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of Articles 14(3), 28(4), 38(1), 42(4) and Article 75 of this Regulation. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making52. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

RemovedRecital 55: (55) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to adopt a simple, risk-based and harmonised method for calculating the financial guarantee or equivalent insurance. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council53. If the Commission determines that a harmonised calculation method for the financial guarantee or equivalent insurance is appropriate, it should consider how the central system could be utilised to enable innovative methods for determining financial guarantees.

RemovedRecital 55 a (new): (55a) To further facilitate harmonisation of the internal market and practices between Member States in relation to shipments of waste, the Commission should investigate whether further standardisation of contracts is possible in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1: This Regulation lays down measures to to protect the environment and human health by preventing or reducing the adverse impacts which may result from the shipment of waste including in third countries. It establishes procedures and control regimes for the shipment of waste, depending on the origin, destination and route of the shipment, the type of waste shipped and the type of treatment to be applied to the waste at its destination. It seeks to contribute to achieving a circular economy, resource efficiency, climate neutrality and zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment by applying the principles of proximity and self-sufficiency as laid down in Directive 2008/98/EC. It also seeks to reduce the administrative burden by harmonising the shipment of waste rules within the Union and by digitalising the exchange of information concerning shipments of waste.

RemovedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 4: (4) ‘environmentally sound management’ means taking all practicable steps to ensure that waste is managed in a manner that will protect human health, the climate and the environment against adverse effects which may result from such waste, and the treatment thereof;

RemovedArticle 3 – paragraph 2: In addition, the definitions of ‘waste’, ‘hazardous waste’, ‘treatment’, ‘disposal’, ‘recovery’, ‘material recovery’, ‘preparing for re-use’, ‘re-use’, ‘recycling’, ‘waste producer’, ‘waste holder’, ‘dealer’ and ‘broker’ laid down in Article 3, points (1), (2), (14), (19), (15), (15a), (16), (13), (17), (5), (6), (7) and (8) respectively of Directive 2008/98/EC shall apply.

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 2 – point a a (new): (aa) Waste that contains or is contaminated with a substance listed in Annex IV of Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants if not listed elsewhere;

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 4 – point b: (b) the amount of waste does not exceed 150 kg for laboratory analysis, 2000 kg for experimental treatment-trials or any higher amount agreed on a case-by-case basis by the competent authorities concerned and the notifier.

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 5: 5. Paragraph 2 shall apply to shipments of mixed municipal waste collected from private households, from other waste producers or from both, as well as to mixed municipal waste which has been subject to a waste treatment operation that has not substantially altered its properties, for example refuse- derived fuels, where such waste is destined for recovery operations. Shipments of such waste destined for disposal shall be prohibited.

RemovedArticle 5 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1: Only notifiers that have received a permit or are registered in accordance with Chapter IV of Directive 2008/98/EC or operators of experimental treatment trials or laboratories may submit a prior written notification (‘notification’).

RemovedArticle 5 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 3: When the notifier is not the original waste producer referred to in Article 3, point (6)(a)(i), the notifier shall ensure that the original waste producer or one of the persons indicated in Article 3, points (6)(a)(ii), (iii) or (iv), also signs the notification document. A dealer or a broker shall ensure they have a written authorisation from one of the persons referred to in Article 3, points (6)(a)(i), (ii) or (iii), to act on their behalf, and that written authorisation shall be included in the notification.

RemovedArticle 7 – paragraph 6: 6. By way of derogation from paragraph 5, where the waste shipped is destined for interim recovery operations or disposal operations and a further recovery operation or disposal operation takes place in the country of destination, the financial guarantee or equivalent insurance may be released when the waste leaves the interim facility and the competent authority concerned has received the certificate referred to in Article 16(4). In that case, any further shipment to a recovery or disposal facility shall be covered by a new financial guarantee or equivalent insurance unless the shipment is between two facilities controlled by the same legal entity or the competent authority of destination is satisfied that such a financial guarantee or equivalent insurance is not required. In those circumstances, the competent authority of destination shall be responsible for obligations arising in the case of take-back where the shipment or the further recovery or disposal operation cannot be completed as intended, as referred to in Article 22, or in the case of an illegal shipment, as referred to in Article 24.

RemovedArticle 7 – paragraph 10 – subparagraph 1: The Commission shall, at the latest by [OP: Please insert date of two years after the date of entry into force of this Regulation], assess the feasibility of establishing a simple, risk-based and harmonised calculation method for determining the amount of financial guarantees or equivalent insurances and, if appropriate, by ... [insert the date three years after the date of entry into force of this Regulation] adopt an implementing act to establish such a simple, risk-based and harmonised calculation method. That implementing act shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 77(2).