Guidance and tools (3)

Under Regulation (EU) No 660/2014, EU Member States have to establish inspection plans for waste shipment inspections by 1st January 2017, in order to ensure the necessary capacity for inspections and effectively prevent illegal shipments. The guidance offers direction to authorities for drafting waste shipment inspection plans and conducting necessary risk assessments. It emphasizes the importance of inspection plans in preventing illegal waste shipments. The report outlines essential elements of a waste shipment inspection plan. Risk assessment should cover specific waste streams and sources of illegal shipments. The goal is to aid in understanding and applying inspection plans and to improve cooperation among agencies involved in waste shipment inspection.

The "Doing the Right Things for Waste Shipment Inspections" (DTRT-TFS) guidance book by IMPEL aims to aid practitioners in setting up and executing waste shipment inspection plans. It emphasizes consistent inspection planning and risk assessment to prevent illegal waste trade. The guidance book follows the Environmental Inspection Cycle, which includes describing the context, setting priorities, defining objectives and strategies, planning and review, guidance and equipment, execution and reporting, and performance monitoring. It provides a flexible methodology for Member States to comply with the Recommendation providing for minimum criteria for environmental inspections (RMCEI) and the EU Waste Shipment Regulation.

The purpose of the practical guidelines is to assist the enterprises and authorities that produce, process, transport, export and control wastes in correctly evaluating those wastes. The guidelines thus aim to provide assistance in evaluations to be undertaken in connection with classification of waste in respect of the Waste Shipments Regulation. The contents represent the interpretation of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency of the underlying rules and are intended purely as guidance. In the case of disagreement on interpretation of the rules, the courts will decide.
Procedural requirements for shipments of waste will not be discussed in this publication. Reference material, with guidelines on procedures for importing/exporting waste, is available on the website of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Austrian guidelines on classification of wastes under the green list have provided considerable inspiration for the Danish guidelines. Many other EU Member States have created guidelines and detailed websites for the Waste Shipments Regulation, although most focus on the procedures relating to transboundary shipments.

The English translation of this guidelines was supported by the IMPEL Network.