UK – new rules will improve ability to deal with illegal waste exports

The range of powers available for controlling the export of waste from the UK has been widened by new regulations laid in Parliament this week.



The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007 set out offences and penalties, and designate the responsible enforcement authorities.



They extend the range of people against whom enforcement action can be taken to include any transporter, freight forwarder or any other person involved in the shipment of waste. Under the previous regulations enforcement action was restricted to the person who notified the shipment, or the person who should have notified it.



The new regulations strengthen the powers of the enforcement authorities by providing a wider range of tools, including the power to serve notices on operators to request compliance with controls. These include:





information notices, requiring further information on the destination of a shipment, or details of the waste

enforcement notices, requesting compliance with controls

prohibition notices, prohibiting the movement of a shipment in breach of the controls.



Non-compliance with a notice will be an offence.



Authorities have also been given a power to seize waste, as a last resort in cases where there is an immediate risk to human health or the environment or where an operator is in breach, or looks likely to breach a notice.



A revised UK Plan on Shipments of Waste will be published shortly, setting out policies on the import and export of waste from the UK for disposal.



The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007 (TFS) have been laid following wide consultation between December 2006 and March 2007.



The regulations are UK wide, and come into force on 12 July. They replace the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 1994, and help to fully transpose the requirements of the European Community Regulation on shipments of waste – the Waste Shipments Regulation (EC/1013/2006).



The Waste Shipments Regulation (WSR) was revised in 2006 to take account of changes to the UN Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous waste and to a related OECD decision. The revised Regulation, which is in force throughout the EU, also applies from 12 July (O. J. 12.7.2006 L190/1).