EN    EN 
 
 
 EUROPEAN  
COMMISSION   
Brussels, 19.1.2017  
COM(2017) 23 final  
2017/0010 (NLE)  
  
Proposal for a  
COUNCIL REGULATION  
amending Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council as regards the hazardous property HP 14 (ʻEcotoxic’)  
(Text with EEA relevance)   EN 2   EN EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM  
A comprehensive review of Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC on waste ( Waste Framework 
Directive) , which establishes properties of waste which render it hazardous,  was undertaken 
in 2014 through Commission Regulation (EU) No 1357/2014. The main aims of that review 
were to adapt the properties of waste to technical and scientific pr ogress and to align, to the 
extent possible, the identification of hazardous wastes with the criteria of the Regulation (EC) 
No 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (the CLP 
Regulation).  
The only hazardous propert y not amended during that review was hazardous property HP 14 
“Ecotoxic ˮ, as it was considered that the knowledge basis for the assessment of that property 
needed to be further improved.  
At present we are in a legal vacuum as concerns the assessment of ec otoxicity: the existing 
"Note" in Annex III to the Waste Framework Directive states that the attribution of hazardous 
property HP 14 is to be made on the basis of the criteria laid down in Annex VI to Council 
Directive 67/548/EEC which has been repealed as  of 1 June 2015.  
To address the legal vacuum and the lack of harmonisation concerning the attribution of 
hazardous property HP 14 “Ecotoxic ˮ, the Commission submitted a draft Regulation for vote 
in the Committee established under Article 39 of the Waste Fr amework Directive . The 
Committee did not give a favourable opinion on the draft Regulation in its meeting of 25 
October 2016.  
The main concerns expressed by the Committee related to (1) the need to clarify that Member 
States may still apply test methods t o assess ecotoxicity and (2) the likelhood that the 
calculation formulae envisaged by the Commission would lead to a change of classification 
from non -hazardous to hazardous of certain wastes types and that would impact negatively on 
the recycling of those  wastes due to increasing costs of managing the waste. The waste types 
mentioned in this context were incineration bottom ash and shredder residues.  
Thus, in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 5a of Council Decision 
1999/468/EC, a Proposal fo r a Council Regulation is submitted to Council and forwarded to 
the European Parliament.  
 EN 3   EN 2017/0010 (NLE)  
Proposal for a  
COUNCIL REGULATION  
amending Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council as regards the hazardous property HP 14 (ʻEcotoxic’)  
(Text with EEA relevance)  
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,  
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,  
Having regard to Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 
November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives1, and in particular Article 38(2) 
there of,  
Whereas:  
(1) Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC lists properties of waste which render it hazardous.  
(2) Directive 2008/98/EC states that the classification of waste as hazardous should be 
based, inter alia, on the Union legislation on chemicals, in pa rticular concerning the 
classification of mixtures as hazardous, including concentration limit values used for 
that purpose. Commission Decision 2000/532/EC2 established a list of the types of 
waste in order to encourage a harmonised classification of wast e and to ensure the 
harmonised determination of hazardous properties of waste within the Union.  
(3) Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC provides that the attribution of the hazardous 
property HP 14 (ʻEcotoxic’) is to be made on the basis of the criteria laid  down by 
Annex VI to Council Directive 67/548/EEC3. 
(4) Directive 67/548/EEC was repealed from 1 June 2015 and replaced by Regulation 
(EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council4. That Directive 
may, however, continue to apply to some m ixtures until 1 June 2017, in case they were 
classified, labelled and packaged in accordance with Directive 1999/45/EC of the 
                                                 
1 OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3.  
2 Commission Decision 2000/532/EC of 3 May 2000 replacing Decision 94/3/EC establishing a list of 
wastes pursuant to Article 1(a) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC on waste a nd Council Decision 
94/904/EC establishing a list of hazardous waste pursuant to Article 1(4) of Council Directive 
91/689/EEC on hazardous waste (OJ L 226, 6.9.2000, p. 3).  
3 Council Directive 67/548/EEC of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of laws, regula tions and 
administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances 
(OJ 196, 16.8.1967, p. 1).  
4 Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on 
classificatio n, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, amending and repealing Directives 
67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p. 
1). EN 4   EN European Parliament and of the Council5 and already placed on the market before 1 
June 2015.  
(5) Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC  was replaced by Commission Regulation (EU) No 
1357/20146 in order to align, where appropriate, the definitions of the hazardous 
properties with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, and replace references to Directive 
67/548/EEC by references to Regulation (EC) N o 1272/2008.   
(6) The definition of the hazardous property HP 14 ( ʻEcotoxic’) was not amended by 
Regulation (EU) No 1357/2014 as an additional study was needed in order to ensure 
completeness and representativeness as regards the information on the possib le impact 
of an alignment of the assessment of the hazardous property HP 14 ( ʻEcotoxic’)  with 
the criteria laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. That study being completed, 
it is appropriate to reflect its recommendations in the assessment of hazardou s 
property HP 14 (ʻEcotoxic’) for waste set out in Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC, 
and to align that assessment, to the extent possible, with the criteria laid down in 
Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 for the assessment of ecotoxicity of chemicals. When 
determining the hazard classification of waste for hazardous property HP14 
(ʻEcotoxic’) by applying calculation formulae, generic cut -off values, as defined in 
Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, should be applied.  
(7) When a test is performed to assess waste for the hazardous property HP14 ʻEcotoxic’, 
it is appropriate to apply the relevant methods established in Commission Regulation 
(EC) No 440/20087 or other internationally recognised test methods and guidelines. 
Decision 2000/532/EC provides that, where a haza rdous property of waste has been 
assessed by a test and by using the concentrations of hazardous substances as indicated 
in Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC, the results of the test shall prevail. Furthermore, 
Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, i n particular Article 12(b) and the 
methodologies for its application, should be taken into account.  
(8) It is appropriate to allow companies and competent authorities sufficient time to adapt 
to the new requirements.  
(9) The Committee referred to in Artic le 39 of Directive 2008/98/EC did not deliver an 
opinion on the measures provided for in this Regulation. The measures should 
therefore be adopted by the Council in accordance with Article 5a(4) of Council 
Decision 1999/468/EC8, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : 
Article 1  
Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC is amended as follows:  
(1) The entry for HP 14 ʻEcotoxic’ is replaced by the following:  
                                                 
5 Directive 1999/45/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council  of 31 May 1999 concerning the 
approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to 
the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous preparations (OJ L 200, 30.7.1999, p. 1).  
6 Commission Regulation (EU) No 1357/2014 of 18 December 2014 replacing Annex III to Directive 
2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste and repealing certain Directives 
(OJ L 365, 19.12.2014, p. 89).  
7 Commission Regulation (EC) No 440/2008 of 30 May 2008  laying down test methods pursuant to 
Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Registration, 
Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) (OJ L 142, 31.5.2008, p. 1).  
8 Council Decision 1999/468/EC  of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of 
implementing powers conferred on the Commission (OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23).  EN 5   EN "HP 14 ʻEcotoxic’: waste which presents or may present immediate or delayed risks for one 
or more sectors of the environme nt. 
Waste which fulfils any of the following conditions shall be classified as hazardous by HP 14:  
– Waste which contains a substance classified as ozone depleting assigned the hazard 
statement code H420 in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of th e 
European Parliament and of the Council* and the concentration of such a substance 
equals or exceeds the concentration limit of 0.1%.  
[ c(H420) ≥ 0.1% ]  
– Waste which contains one or more substances classified as aquatic acute assigned the 
hazard statemen t code H400 in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and 
the sum of the concentrations of those substances equals or exceeds the concentration 
limit of 25%. A cut -off value of 0.1% shall apply to such substances.  
[ ∑ c (H400) ≥ 25 % ]  
– Waste which contains one or more substances classified as aquatic chronic 1, 2 or 3 
assigned to the hazard statement code(s) H410, H411 or H412 in accordance with 
Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, and the sum of the concentrations of all substances 
classified as aquatic c hronic 1 (H410) multiplied by 100 added to the sum of the 
concentrations of all substances classified as aquatic chronic 2 (H411) multiplied by 
10 added to the sum of the concentrations of all substances classified as aquatic 
chronic 3 (H412) equals or exc eeds the concentration limit of 25%. A cut -off value 
of 0.1% applies to substances classified as H410 and a cut -off value of 1% applies to 
substances classified as H411 or H412.  
[ 100 x ∑c (H410)) + 10 x ∑c (H411) + ∑c (H412) ≥ 25% ]  
– Waste which contains o ne or more substances classified as aquatic chronic 1, 2, 3 or 
4 assigned the hazard statement code(s) H410, H411, H412 or 413 in accordance 
with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, and the sum of the concentrations of all 
substances classified as aquatic chroni c equals or exceeds the concentration limit of 
25%. A cut -off value of 0.1% applies to substances classified as H410 and a cut -off 
value of 1% applies to substances classified as H411, H412 or H413.  
[ ∑ c H410 + ∑ c H411 + ∑ c H412 + ∑ c H413 ≥ 25 % ]  
Wher e: ∑ = sum and c = concentrations of the substances.  
___________________________________  
* Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 
December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures,  
amending and repealing Directives 67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, and amending Regulation 
(EC) No 1907/2006 (OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p. 1)."  
 
(2) The note below the entry for HP 15 is deleted .  
Article 2  
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth da y following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union .  
It shall apply from 12 months after the date of its publication in the OJ.  EN 6   EN  
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.  
Done at Brussels,  
 For the Council  
 The President