Directive 2006/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of  5 April 2006  on waste   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2006-04-05
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: codification of EU law, waste management

27.4.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 114/9

DIRECTIVE 2006/12/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 5 April 2006

on waste

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 175 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (1),

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 251 of the Treaty (2),

Whereas:

(1) Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on
waste (3) has been significantly amended on several
occasions (4). In order to clarify matters, a codification of
the provisions in question should be drawn up.

(2) The essential objective of all provisions relating to waste
management should be the protection of human health
and the environment against harmful effects caused by
the collection, transport, treatment, storage and tipping
of waste.

(3) Common terminology and a definition of waste are
needed in order to improve the efficiency of waste
management in the Community.

(4)

Effective and consistent rules on waste disposal and
recovery should be applied, subject to certain exceptions,
to movable property which the holder discards or
intends or is required to discard.

(1) OJ C 112, 30.4.2004, p. 46.
(2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 9 March 2004 (OJ
C 102 E, 28.4.2004, p. 106) and Council Decision of 30 January
2006.

(3) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 39. Directive as last amended by
Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and
of the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).
See Part A of Annex III.

(4)

(5) The recovery of waste and the use of recovered materials
as raw materials should be encouraged in order to
conserve natural resources. It may be necessary to adopt
specific rules for re‑usable waste.

(6)

In order
to achieve a high level of environmental
protection, Member States should, in addition to taking
responsible action to ensure the disposal and recovery of
waste, take measures to restrict the production of waste
particularly by promoting clean technologies
and
products which can be recycled and re‑used, taking into
consideration existing or potential market opportunities
for recovered waste.

(7) Moreover, discrepancies between Member States’ legisla-
tion with regard to waste disposal and recovery may
affect the quality of the environment and the smooth
operation of the internal market.

(8)

It is important for the Community as a whole to become
self‑sufficient in waste disposal and desirable for Member
States individually to aim at such self‑sufficiency.

(9)

In order to achieve those objectives, waste management
plans should be drawn up in the Member States.

(10) Movements of waste should be reduced and Member
States may take the necessary measures to that end in
their management plans.

(11) To ensure a high level of protection and effective control,
it is necessary to provide for authorisation and inspection
of undertakings which carry out waste disposal and
recovery.

L 114/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

27.4.2006

(12) Subject to certain conditions, and provided that they
comply with environmental protection requirements,
some establishments which process their waste them-
selves or carry out waste recovery may be exempted from
permit requirements. Such establishments should be
subject to registration.

(13)

In order that waste can be monitored from its production
to its final disposal, other undertakings involved with
waste, such as waste collectors, carriers and brokers
should also be subject to authorisation or registration
and appropriate inspection.

(14) That proportion of the costs not covered by the proceeds
of treating the waste must be defrayed in accordance
with the ‘polluter pays’ principle.

(15) The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
implementing powers
procedures for the exercise of
conferred on the Commission (1).

(16) This Directive should be without prejudice to the
obligations of the Member States relating to the time-
limits for transposition into national law of the Directives
listed in Part B of Annex III,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

1.

For the purposes of this Directive:

(e)

‘disposal’ shall mean any of the operations provided for
in Annex II A;

(f)

‘recovery’ shall mean any of the operations provided for
in Annex II B;

(g)

‘collection’ shall mean the gathering, sorting and/or
mixing of waste for the purpose of transport.

For

the
the purposes of paragraph 1, point
2.
Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure referred
to in Article 18(3), shall draw up a list of waste belonging to
the categories listed in Annex I. This list shall be periodically
reviewed and,
if necessary, revised in accordance with the
same procedure.

(a),

Article 2

1. The following shall be excluded from the scope of this
Directive:

(a)

gaseous effluents emitted into the atmosphere;

(b) where they are already covered by other legislation:

(i)

radioactive waste;

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

‘waste’ shall mean any substance or object
in the
categories set out in Annex I which the holder discards
or intends or is required to discard;

(ii) waste resulting from prospecting, extraction, treat-
ment and storage of mineral resources and the
working of quarries;

‘producer’ shall mean anyone whose activities produce
waste (‘original producer’) and/or anyone who carries out
pre‑processing, mixing or other operations resulting in a
change in the nature or composition of this waste;

(iii) animal carcases and the following agricultural
waste: faecal matter and other natural, non‑danger-
ous substances used in farming;

‘holder’ shall mean the producer of the waste or the
natural or legal person who is in possession of it;

(iv) waste waters, with the exception of waste in liquid

form;

‘management’
transport,
recovery and disposal of waste, including the supervision
of such operations and after‑care of disposal sites;

shall mean the collection,

(v)

decommissioned explosives.

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

2.
Specific rules for particular instances, or supplementing
those of this Directive, on the management of particular
categories of waste, may be laid down by means of individual
Directives.

27.4.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 114/11

Article 3

(c) without adversely affecting the countryside or places of

special interest.

1. Member States
encourage:

shall

take appropriate measures

to

(a)

first, the prevention or reduction of waste production
and its harmfulness, in particular by:

(i)

the development of
sparing in their use of natural resources;

clean technologies more

(ii)

technical development

and marketing of
the
products designed so as to make no contribution
or to make the smallest possible contribution, by
the nature of their manufacture, use or disposal, to
increasing the amount or harmfulness of waste and
pollution hazards;

(iii)

the development of appropriate techniques for the
final disposal of dangerous substances contained in
waste destined for recovery;

(b)

second:

(i)

the recovery of waste by means of recycling, re‑use
or reclamation or any other process with a view to
extracting secondary raw materials; or

(ii)

the use of waste as a source of energy.

Except where Directive 98/34/EC of

2.
the European
Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down
a procedure for the provision of information in the field of
technical standards and regulations (1) applies, Member States
shall inform the Commission of any measures they intend to
take to achieve the aims set out
in paragraph 1. The
Commission shall inform the other Member States and the
Committee referred to in Article 18(1) of such measures.

Article 4

1. Member States shall
take the necessary measures to
ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without
endangering human health and without using processes or
methods which could harm the environment, and in
particular:

(a) without risk to water, air or soil, or to plants or animals;

(b) without causing a nuisance through noise or odours;

take the necessary measures to
2. Member States shall
prohibit the abandonment, dumping or uncontrolled disposal
of waste.

Article 5

shall

take appropriate measures,

in
1. Member States
cooperation with other Member States where this is necessary
or advisable, to establish an integrated and adequate network
of disposal installations, taking account of the best available
technology not involving excessive costs. The network must
enable the Community as a whole to become self‑sufficient in
waste disposal and the Member States to move towards that
aim individually, taking into account geographical circum-
stances or the need for specialised installations for certain
types of waste.

2. The network referred to in paragraph 1 must enable waste
to be disposed of
the nearest appropriate
the most appropriate methods
installations, by means of
and technologies in order to ensure a high level of protection
for the environment and public health.

in one of

Article 6

Member States shall establish or designate the competent
authority or authorities to be responsible for implementing
this Directive.

Article 7

In order to attain the objectives referred to in Articles 3, 4
1.
and 5, the competent authority or authorities referred to in
Article 6 shall be required to draw up as soon as possible one
or more waste management plans. Such plans shall relate in
particular to:

(a)

the type, quantity and origin of waste to be recovered or
disposed of;

(b)

general technical requirements;

(c)

any special arrangements for particular wastes;

(1) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998, p. 37. Directive as last amended by the

2003 Act of Accession.

(d)

suitable disposal sites or installations.

L 114/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

27.4.2006

2. The plans referred to in paragraph 1 may, for example,
cover:

(a)

the natural or legal persons empowered to carry out
waste management;

Permits may be granted for a specified period, they may
2.
be renewable,
to conditions and
obligations, or, notably, if the intended method of disposal
is unacceptable from the point of view of environmental
protection, they may be refused.

they may be subject

(b)

the estimated costs of
operations;

the recovery and disposal

Article 10

(c)

appropriate measures to encourage rationalisation of the
collection, sorting and treatment of waste.

For the purposes of applying Article 4, any establishment or
undertaking which carries out the operations referred to in
Annex II B shall obtain a permit.

3. Member States shall cooperate as appropriate with the
other Member States and the Commission to draw up such
plans. They shall notify Commission of them.

Article 11

4. Member States may take the measures necessary to
prevent movements of waste which do not comply with their
waste management plans. They shall inform the Commission
and the Member States of any such measures.

1. Without prejudice to Council Directive 91/689/EEC of
12 December 1991 on hazardous waste (1), the following may
laid down in
be exempted from the permit requirement
Article 9 or Article 10:

Article 8

Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure
that any holder of waste:

(a)

has it handled by a private or public waste collector or by
an undertaking which carries out the operations listed in
Annex II A or II B; or

(b)

recovers or disposes of it himself in accordance with the
provisions of this Directive.

Article 9

1.
For the purposes of implementing Articles 4, 5 and 7, any
establishment or undertaking which carries out the operations
specified in Annex II A shall obtain a permit
from the
competent authority referred to in Article 6.

Such permit shall cover:

(a)

the types and quantities of waste;

(b)

the technical requirements;

(c)

the safety precautions to be taken;

(d)

the disposal site;

(e)

the treatment method.

(a)

establishments or undertakings carrying out their own
waste disposal at the place of production; and

(b)

establishments or undertakings that carry out waste
recovery.

2. The exemption referred to in paragraph 1 may apply only:

(a)

if the competent authorities have adopted general rules
laying down the types and
for each type of activity,
quantities of waste and the conditions under which the
activity in question may be exempted from the permit
requirement; and

(b)

if
the types or quantities of waste and methods of
disposal or recovery are such that the conditions laid
down in Article 4 are complied with.

3. The establishments or undertakings
referred to in
paragraph 1 shall be registered with the competent authorities.

4. Member States shall
inform the Commission of
general rules adopted pursuant to paragraph 2, point (a).

the

(1) OJ L 377, 31.12.1991, p. 20. Directive as amended by

Directive 94/31/EC (OJ L 168, 2.7.1994, p. 28).

27.4.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 114/13

Article 12

Article 16

Establishments or undertakings which collect or transport
waste on a professional basis or which arrange for the disposal
or recovery of waste on behalf of others (dealers or brokers)
shall, where they are not subject to authorisation, be registered
with the competent authorities.

Article 13

shall

intervals of

three years Member States

At
send
information to the Commission on the implementation of
this Directive, in the form of a sectoral report which shall also
cover other pertinent Community Directives. The report shall
be drawn up on the basis of a questionnaire or outline drafted
by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred
to in Article 18(2). The questionnaire or outline shall be sent
to the Member States six months before the start of the period
covered by the report. The report shall be made to the
Commission within nine months of the end of the three‑year
period covered by it.

Establishments or undertakings which carry out the opera-
tions referred to in Articles 9 to 12 shall be subject to
appropriate periodic inspections by the competent authorities.

The Commission shall publish a Community report on the
implementation of
the Directive within nine months of
receiving the reports from the Member States.

Article 14

Article 17

1. All
Articles 9 and 10 shall:

establishments or undertakings

referred to in

(a)

keep a record of the quantity, nature, origin and, where
relevant, the destination, frequency of collection, mode
of transport and treatment method in respect of the
waste referred to in Annex I and the operations referred
to in Annex II A or II B;

(b) make this information available, on request,

to the

competent authorities referred to in Article 6.

2. Member States may also require producers to comply
with the provisions of paragraph 1.

Article 15

In accordance with the ‘polluter pays’ principle, the cost of
disposing of waste must be borne by:

The amendments necessary for adapting the Annexes to
scientific
adopted in
accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 18(3).

and technical progress

shall be

Article 18

1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at one month.

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at three months.

4. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

(a)

the holder who has waste handled by a waste collector or
by an undertaking as referred to in Article 9; and/or

Article 19

(b)

the previous holders or the producer of the product from
which the waste came.

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the
texts of the main provisions of national law which they adopt
in the field covered by this Directive.

L 114/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

27.4.2006

Article 20
Directive 75/442/EEC is hereby repealed, without prejudice to
Member States' obligations relating to the time‑limits for
transposition into national law set out in Annex III, Part B.

References made to the repealed Directive shall be construed
as being made to this Directive and should be read in
accordance with the correlation table in Annex IV.

Article 21
This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following
its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 22

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Strasbourg, 5 April 2006.

For the European Parliament

For the Council

The President

The President

J. BORRELL FONTELLES

H. WINKLER

27.4.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 114/15

ANNEX I

CATEGORIES OF WASTE

Production or consumption residues not otherwise specified below

Off-specification products

Products whose date for appropriate use has expired

Materials spilled,
contaminated as a result of the mishap

lost or having undergone other mishap,

including any materials, equipment, etc.,

Materials contaminated or soiled as a result of planned actions (e.g. residues from cleaning operations,
packing materials, containers, etc.)

Unusable parts (e.g. reject batteries, exhausted catalysts, etc.)

Substances which no longer perform satisfactorily (e.g. contaminated acids, contaminated solvents,
exhausted tempering salts, etc.)

Residues of industrial processes (e.g. slags, still bottoms, etc.)

Residues from pollution abatement processes (e.g. scrubber sludges, baghouse dusts, spent filters, etc.)

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q5

Q6

Q7

Q8

Q9

Q10

Machining/finishing residues (e.g. lathe turnings, mill scales, etc.)

Q11

Residues from raw materials extraction and processing (e.g. mining residues, oil field slops, etc.)

Q12

Adulterated materials (e.g. oils contaminated with PCBs, etc.)

Q13

Any materials, substances or products the use of which has been banned by law

Q14

Products for which the holder has no further use (e.g. agricultural, household, office, commercial and shop
discards, etc.)

Q15

Contaminated materials, substances or products resulting from remedial action with respect to land

Q16

Any materials, substances or products which are not contained in the abovementioned categories.

L 114/16

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

27.4.2006

ANNEX II A

DISPOSAL OPERATIONS

NB:

This Annex is intended to list disposal operations such as they occur in practice. In accordance with Article 4,
waste must be disposed of without endangering human health and without the use of processes or methods
likely to harm the environment.

D 1

Deposit into or on to land (e.g. landfill, etc.)

D 2

Land treatment (e.g. biodegradation of liquid or sludgy discards in soils, etc.)

D 3

Deep injection (e.g. injection of pumpable discards into wells, salt domes or naturally occurring repositories,
etc.)

D 4

Surface impoundment (e.g. placement of liquid or sludgy discards into pits, ponds or lagoons, etc.)

D 5

Specially engineered landfill (e.g. placement into lined discrete cells which are capped and isolated from one
another and the environment, etc.

D 6

Release into a water body except seas/oceans

D 7

D 8

D 9

Release into seas/oceans including sea‑bed insertion

Biological treatment not specified elsewhere in this Annex which results in final compounds or mixtures
which are discarded by means of any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 7 and D 9 to D 12

Physico-chemical treatment not specified elsewhere in this Annex which results in final compounds or
mixtures which are discarded by means of any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 8 and D 10 to D 12 (e.g.
evaporation, drying, calcination, etc.)

D 10

Incineration on land

D 11

Incineration at sea

D 12

Permanent storage (e.g. emplacement of containers in a mine, etc.)

D 13

Blending or mixing prior to submission to any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 12

D 14 Repackaging prior to submission to any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 13

D 15

Storage pending any of the operations numbered D 1 to D 14 (excluding temporary storage, pending
collection, on the site where it is produced)

27.4.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 114/17

ANNEX II B

RECOVERY OPERATIONS

NB:

This Annex is intended to list recovery operations as they occur in practice. In accordance with Article 4,
waste must be recovered without endangering human health and without the use of processes or methods
likely to harm the environment.

R 1

Use principally as a fuel or other means to generate energy

R 2

Solvent reclamation/regeneration

R 3

Recycling/reclamation of organic substances which are not used as solvents (including composting and other
biological transformation processes)

R 4

Recycling/reclamation of metals and metal compounds

R 5

Recycling/reclamation of other inorganic materials

R 6

Regeneration of acids or bases

R 7

Recovery of components used for pollution abatement

R 8

Recovery of components from catalysts

R 9

Oil re-refining or other reuses of oil

R 10

Land treatment resulting in benefit to agriculture or ecological improvement

R 11 Use of wastes obtained from any of the operations numbered R 1 to R 10

R 12

Exchange of wastes for submission to any of the operations numbered R 1 to R 11

R 13

Storage of wastes pending any of the operations numbered R 1 to R 12 (excluding temporary storage,
pending collection, on the site where it is produced)

L 114/18

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

27.4.2006

ANNEX III

PART A

REPEALED DIRECTIVE WITH ITS SUCCESSIVE AMENDMENTS

(referred to in Article 20)

Council Directive 75/442/EEC
(OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 39)

Council Directive 91/156/EEC
(OJ L 78, 26.3.1991, p. 32)

Council Directive 91/692/EEC (OJ L 377, 31.12.1991,
p. 48)

only as regards the reference to Directive 75/442/EEC in
Annex VI

Commission Decision 96/350/EC (OJ L 135, 6.6.1996,
p. 32)

Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the
European Parliament and of the Council (OJ
L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1)

Annex III, point 1 only

PART B

LIST OF TIME-LIMITS FOR TRANSPOSITION INTO NATIONAL LAW

(referred to in Article 20)

Directive

Time-limit for transposition

75/442/EEC

91/156/EEC

91/692/EEC

17 July 1977

1 April 1993

1 January 1995

27.4.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 114/19

ANNEX IV

CORRELATION TABLE

Directive 75/442/EEC

This Directive

Article 1, introductory words

Article 1(1) introductory words

Article 1(a) first subparagraph

Article 1(a) second subparagraph

Article 1(b) — (g)

Article 2

Article 1(1)(a)

Article 1(2)

Article 1(1)(b) — (g)

Article 2

Article 3(1) introductory words

Article 3(1) introductory words

Article 3(1)(a) introductory words

Article 3(1)(a) introductory words

Article 3(1)(a) first indent

Article 3(1)(a) second indent

Article 3(1)(a) third indent

Article 3(1)(a)(i)

Article 3(1)(a)(ii)

Article 3(1)(a)(iii)

Article 3(1)(b), introductory words

Article 3(1)(b) introductory words

Article 3(1)(b) first indent

Article 3(1)(b) second indent

Article 3(2)

Article 3(1)(b)(i)

Article 3(1)(b)(ii)

Article 3(2)

Article 4, first paragraph, introductory words

Article 4(1), introductory words

Article 4, first paragraph, first indent

Article 4, first paragraph, second indent

Article 4, first paragraph, third indent

Article 4, second paragraph

Article 5

Article 6

Article 4(1)(a)

Article 4(1)(b)

Article 4(1)(c)

Article 4(2)

Article 5

Article 6

Article 7(1), first subparagraph, introductory words

Article 7(1), introductory words

Article 7(1), first subparagraph, first indent

Article 7(1)(a)

Article 7(1), first subparagraph, second indent

Article 7(1)(b)

Article 7(1), first subparagraph, third indent

Article 7(1)(c)

Article 7(1), first subparagraph, fourth indent

Article 7(1)(d)

Article 7(1), second subparagraph, introductory words

Article 7(2), introductory words

Article 7(1), second subparagraph, first indent

Article 7(2)(a)

Article 7(1), second subparagraph, second indent

Article 7(2)(b)

Article 7(1), second subparagraph, third indent

Article 7(2)(c)

Article 7(2)

Article 7(3)

Article 7(3)

Article 7(4)

Article 8, introductory words

Article 8, introductory words

L 114/20

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

27.4.2006

Directive 75/442/EEC

This Directive

Article 8, first indent

Article 8, second indent

Article 8(a)

Article 8(b)

Article 9(1), first subparagraph

Article 9(1), first subparagraph

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, introductory words

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, introductory words

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, first indent

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, (a)

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, second indent

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, (b)

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, third indent

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, (c)

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, fourth indent

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, (d)

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, fifth indent

Article 9(1), second subparagraph, (e)

Article 9(2)

Article 10

Article 11(1), first subparagraph

Article 9(2)

Article 10

Article 11(1)

Article 11(1), second subparagraph, introductory words

Article 11(2), introductory words

Article 11(1), second subparagraph, first indent

Article 11(2)(a)

Article 11(1), second subparagraph, second indent

Article 11(2)(b)

Article 11(2)

Article 11(3)

Article 12

Article 13

Article 11(3)

Article 11(4)

Article 12

Article 13

Article 14, first paragraph, introductory words

Article 14(1), introductory words

Article 14, first paragraph, first indent

Article 14(1)(a)

Article 14, first paragraph, second indent

Article 14(1)(b)

Article 14, second subparagraph

Article 14(2)

Article 15, introductory words

Article 15, introductory words

Article 15, first indent

Article 15, second indent

Article 16, first paragraph

Article 15(a)

Article 15(b)

Article 16, first paragraph and Article 18(2)

Article 16, second paragraph

___

Article 16, third paragraph

Article 16, second paragraph

Article 17

Article 18(1)

Article 18(2)

Article 18(3)

Article 19

Article 17

Article 18(1)

Article 18(3)

Article 18(4)

___

27.4.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 114/21

Directive 75/442/EEC

This Directive

Article 20

___

___

Article 21

Annex I

Annex II A

Annex II B

___

___

Article 19

Article 20

Article 21

Article 22

Annex I

Annex II A

Annex II B

Annex III

Annex IV