On 30th March, the European Commission published Guidance to ensure the continuation of waste shipments across the EU while maintaining a high level of protection of public health and the environment. The COVID-19 crisis and the various national measures adopted to address it are obviously affecting waste shipment operations across the EU. The Commission seeks to prevent and reduce obstacles to cross-border movements of waste and to facilitate the implementation of EU rules on cross-border waste shipments that are regulated by the EU Waste Shipment Regulation 2006 (No. 1013/2006).
The Commission Guidance asks all member states to fully implement the recommendations on ensuring that all freight gets quickly to its destination without any delays and in particular to ensure that waste shipments have access to “green lane” border crossings. The Commission had previously issued a “Green Lanes Communication”, relating to the transport of goods, and it now applies that also to shipments of waste.
The Commission also recommends that electronic procedures are used in accordance with the Waste Shipment Regulation, and that electronic exchanges of documents and information, including where possible digital signatures, are used and accepted by competent authorities in all member states.
The Commission recommends that where another member state becomes involved in a waste shipment due to re-routing of the shipment, all competent authorities involved should do their utmost to process the new notification as speedily as possible.