WRITTEN QUESTION E-0016/98 by Jean-Pierre Bébéar (PPE) to the Commission (29 January 1998)

Subject: Controls on the movement of waste

Many European companies operate in the textile recycling sector, processing used textiles into rags or exporting second-hand clothes to Africa.

Such companies are governed by the European regulation on controls on the movement of waste. Their products are treated as non-hazardous waste (green list). A strict interpretation of this regulation may lead to an outright ban on exports of second-hand clothes.

Since this would be a death-sentence for companies which employ a sizeable workforce, without harming public health or the European or global environment, would it be possible for the Commission to incorporate sufficiently detailed clarifications into the regulation on controls on the movement of waste to forestall such damaging consequences for local economies in Europe and Africa?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (6 March 1998)

The Commission may provide the following information with regard to the export of textile wastes and their recycling as rags or second hand clothing for export by European companies to the African continent:

The definition of 'waste' established by Directive 75/442/EEC ((OJ L 194, 25.7.1975. )), as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC on wastes ((OJ L 78, 26.3.1991. )), is as follows: 'Waste shall mean any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard'.

An option sometimes preferred consists of considering that a material is a product when it has an economic value. That interpretation is in line with neither the Community definition of waste nor with the opinion of the Court of Justice, which has stated that the definition of wastes is independent of the economic value of the discarded object, and specifically stated that wastes having no economic value are products within the meaning of Article 30 of the EC Treaty, although specific in nature.

The Commission feels with regard to the recycling of textile wastes in the form of rags or second hand clothing that if such second hand garments have been discarded or that their holder had intended to discard them, they are covered by the definition of waste in Directive 75/442/EEC. From the moment when the holder of the product 'intends to discard' that product becomes a waste. However, those same wastes may again become products if they have received suitable treatment. It is thus conceivable that second-hand clothing can be sorted and cleaned in such a way that part of it may again be considered to be products.

Once worn-out textiles have been considered to be wastes they are classified as non-dangerous (green list) wastes and their transfer towards non-member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is governed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community ((OJ L 30, 6.2.1993. )).

Transfers of wastes listed in Annex II that are intended to be turned to economic account, are exempt from the control procedures under Regulation 259/93 since such wastes do not constitute any environmental hazards once they have been correctly treated in the recipient country. This applies to both transfers between Member State and exports to non-Member States. However, the Community has not wished to impose that view on the non-member countries. Consequently, under Article 17(1) of the Regulation, the Commission has had to consult all of the non-OECD countries in order to ask these if they would accept no control procedures' being applied to Community exports of the wastes listed in Annex II towards their country, or whether they wanted one of the control procedures set out in the Regulation to be applied.

The reactions to the consultation may be divided into four categories: (1) those countries having accepted that there will be no control; (2) those countries that have asked that one of the control procedures under Regulation 259/93 be applied; (3) those countries having stated a wish not to receive any wastes intended for upgrading; (4) countries not having replied. Commission Decision 94/575/EC ((OJ L 220, 25.8.1994. )) covering the first and second categories of country was adopted via the procedure provided for in Article 17(3), and will be replaced shortly by a Commission Regulation covering more countries.

The Commission has had to put 'appropriate proposals to the Council' concerning the other countries in accordance with Article 17(1) of Regulation 259/93. Therefore the proposal for a Council Regulation intended to introduce control procedures for exports of certain types of waste towards certain non-OECD countries was adopted by the Commission in December 1994. Parliament delivered its opinion in July 1997 and the Council reached a political agreement on a common position in December 1997.

At the current stage the proposal for a regulation referred to above provides that exports of green-list wastes will be banned for those countries having stated that they do not wish to receive such wastes from the Community. The Article-15 procedure will be applicable to exports of green-list wastes to those countries that have not responded to the Commission's consultative approach. Thus, on the basis of the precautionary principle, once the proposal has been adopted and has taken effect, a system of notification and control shall apply to exports of green-list wastes to those countries not wishing to respond, but those exports will not be banned. From the point in time when the authority in a non-OECD country gives its agreement on a specific import, this may take place. That declaration must also be met with regard to those countries that have specifically declared that they did not wish to receive any, or only wished to receive certain types of green-list wastes, even if their transfer is purely charitable.