Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on implementation of the community waste legislation Directive 2006/12/EC on waste, Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste, Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils, Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge, Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste and Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment for the period 2004-2006 {SEC(2009)1586}
Date: 2009-11-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: application of EU law, dangerous substance, disclosure of information, electronic waste, environmental impact, packaging product, report, sewage sludge, used oil, vehicle, waste management

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 20.11.2009 
COM(2009) 633 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND 
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMUNITY WASTE LEGISLATION  
Directive 2006/12/EC on waste, 
Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste,  
Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils,  
Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge,  
Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste,  
Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste and 
Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment 

FOR THE PERIOD 2004-2006 

{SEC(2009)1586} 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND 
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMUNITY WASTE LEGISLATION  
Directive 2006/12/EC on waste, 
Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste,  
Directive 75/439/EEC on waste oils,  
Directive 86/278/EEC on sewage sludge,  
Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste,  
Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste and 
Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment 

FOR THE PERIOD 2004-2006 

{SEC(2009)1586} 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This  report  aims  to  inform  the  other  Community  institutions,  the  Member  States  and  the 
public about the implementation of the EU legislation on waste over the period 2004 – 2006. 
It  covers  Directives  2006/12/EC  on  waste,  91/689/EC  on  hazardous  waste,  75/439/EEC  on 
waste  oils,  86/278/EEC  on  sewage  sludge,  94/62/EC  on  packaging  and  packaging  waste, 
1999/31/EC  on  the  landfill  of  waste,  2002/96/EC  on  waste  electrical  and  electronic 
equipment, and 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles. 

The  report  was  drawn  up  in  line  with  Article  5  of  Directive  91/692/EEC  standardising  and 
rationalising reports on the implementation of certain Directives relating to the environment. 
It is based on information supplied by Member States complemented by the conclusions from 
additional Commission studies and internal  statistics.  More  information  can  be  found  in  the 
at: 
Commission 
for 
reports 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/reporting/index.htm. 

published 

prepared 

and 

the 

This report is complemented by separate reports on the Waste Shipment Regulation1 and the 
End  of  Life  Vehicles  Directive2.  Therefore,  only  brief  summaries  of  the  main  findings  of 
those reports are included here.  

An Annex to the Report contains details on the implementation of specific provisions of the 
legislation in title. 

1 

2 

Commission Report on the implementation of the Waste Shipment Regulation, COM(2009) 282 final 
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/shipments/reports.htm) 
See: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/elv_index.htm.  

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2. 

TIMELINESS AND QUALITY OF REPORTING 

The reporting discipline of Member States leaves much scope for improvement, for both the 
tri-annual implementation reports and the annual data on the progress to reach the targets. For 
this  report,  14  Member  States  have  not  provided  all  their  implementation  reports  on  time. 
Concerning  the  annual  recycling  and  recovery  data  on  WEEE,  ELV  and  packaging,  around 
one  third  of  Member  States  did  not  reply  on  time  in  2006.  In  many  cases  the  replies  were 
incomplete and the quality of reporting varied. This could result to a certain extent from the 
sometimes  ambiguous  formulation  of  some  questions  in  the  implementation  questionnaires, 
but in many cases Member States omitted responding to certain questions or provided unclear 
or misleading answers. 

Based on the results of this report, the Commission may consider streamlining the questions 
in  order  to  render  them  more  specific.  Also,  the  reporting  methodologies  of  Member  States 
differ when it comes to the annual recycling and recovery data, which may necessitate further 
harmonisation. The Commission has started working on this issue in close cooperation with 
the statistical offices and national experts. 

3. 

DIRECTIVE 2006/12/EC ON WASTE 

The basic requirements, definitions and principles regarding the management of waste in the 
Community  are  laid  down  in  Directive  2006/12/EC  on  waste  (Waste  Framework  Directive, 
WFD).  This  directive  introduces  a  definition  of  waste,  obliges  Member  States  to  establish 
adequate networks of waste disposal installations, introduces a waste management hierarchy 
promoting  waste  prevention  over  its  recovery,  with  disposal  as  the  last  recourse.  The 
Directive  obliges  Member  States  to  ensure  that  waste  is  recovered  or  disposed  of  without 
endangering human health and the environment, and prohibits the abandonment, dumping or 
uncontrolled  disposal  of  waste.  It  requires  Member  States  to  draw  up  national  waste 
management plans (WMP) and introduces an obligation to obtain a permit for waste handling. 

In 2009, 11 cases for structural and wide-spread failure to address illegal waste dumping, 10 
for  bad  application,  4  related  to  waste  planning,  and  3  on  non-conformity  of  national  laws 
with the directive were still pending in relation to the WFD. 

All Member States confirmed having incorporated the Directive into their national law. The 
basic  requirements  to  ensure  the  environmentally  sound  management  of  waste  were 
implemented  in  all  Member  States,  although  there  are  still  problems  in  some  countries 
especially as regards the creation of complete waste management infrastructures. At the same 
time, there are huge differences in the implementation of the waste hierarchy and the use of 
waste as a resource. 

The degree of recycling/recovery varies both for waste in general and in respect of different 
waste streams. The increase of the recycling and recovery rates over the past years was partly 
a result of the implementation of the requirements of the recycling directives and partly due to 
national waste management policies (in the latter case, for construction and demolition waste 
and bio-waste). However, there are still huge unused recycling potentials leaving more than 
half of the existing resources embedded in waste completely unused3. 

3 

European Atlas of Secondary Raw Materials, 2004 Status Quo and Potentials, January 2008, Prognos. 

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The prevention policy up to now was not efficient, with limited and punctual actions taken by 
Member  States  but  hardly  any  large-scale  coherent  policies  in  place.  This  might  have  been 
due  to  a  limited  focus  on  waste  prevention  in  the  old  WFD,  and  should  change  when  the 
requirements of the revised Directive4 in this respect enter into force. 

4. 

DIRECTIVE 91/689/EEC ON HAZARDOUS WASTE 

The  Directive  introduces  a  precise  and  uniform  definition  of  hazardous  waste  and  aims  to 
ensure the environmentally sound management of this waste stream. A number of controls, in 
addition  to  those  laid  down  in  the  WFD,  are  imposed  in  respect  of  the  management  of 
hazardous  waste,  including  traceability  requirements,  ban  on  mixing  hazardous  waste  with 
other wastes, notification to the Commission of wastes exhibiting hazardous properties but not 
listed as such. 

The responses of Member States were in some cases insufficiently precise to state whether the 
Directive  has  been  properly  implemented.  In  particular,  there  are  doubts  as  regards  the 
enforcement  of  the  mixing  ban  and  the  related  exemptions  from  this  ban  and  permit 
requirements. The regularity of inspections was not ensured by several Member States. There 
are also concerns as regards the reporting requirements for producers. One case of the lack of 
clear rules for packaging and labelling of hazardous waste was identified that requires further 
follow-up. 

5. 

DIRECTIVE 75/439/EEC ON THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE OILS 

The purpose of the Waste Oils Directive is to approximate Member States laws and create a 
coherent system for the collection, treatment, storage and disposal of waste oils to protect the 
environment against the harmful effects caused by the discharge, deposit or treatment of these 
oils.  Member  States  are  required  to  establish  systems  for  the  registration,  permitting  and 
supervision  of  activities  involving  the  processing  or  disposal  of  waste  oils.  The  highest 
priority  for  managing  waste  oils  is  given  to  regeneration,  followed  by  combustion, 
destruction, controlled storage or disposal. 

The  Directive  has  been  transposed  by  all  Member  States  into  their  national  legislation.  The 
responses  of  Member  States  show  that  the  appropriate  permitting  and  control  mechanisms 
were put in place in order to prevent the negative environmental and health impacts from the 
management  of  waste  oils.  However,  the  treatment  practice  demonstrated  that  the  Directive 
did not bring about the expected results regarding the promotion of regeneration of waste oils: 
despite the legal obligation to promote regeneration, combustion was the most popular option 
in the EU. In effect, a number of infringement cases were launched by the Commission. This 
tendency was further analysed by the Commission and led to a conclusion that regeneration 
was environmentally and economically no more beneficial than combustion. As a result, the 
infringement cases related to this issue were withdrawn and the revised WFD does not give an 
absolute priority to regeneration but at the same allows those countries which want to promote 
regeneration to prescribe that waste oils should continue to be treated in this way. 

4 

Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3. 

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6. 

DIRECTIVE 86/278/EEC ON SEWAGE SLUDGE 

The  Sewage  Sludge  Directive  was  adopted  over  20  years  ago  to  regulate  the  correct  use  of 
sewage sludge in agriculture and prevent its harmful effects on soil, vegetation, animals and 
humans. 

The measures put in place in Member States and the described implementation practice point 
to no implementation problems. At the same time, there are signals that the Directive may be 
too  limited  in  scope  and  lack  ambition.  Since  its  adoption,  several  Member  States  have 
enacted and implemented stricter limit values for heavy metals and set requirements for other 
contaminants.  The  ongoing  Commission  impact  assessment  will  evaluate  whether  more 
stringent measures should be put in place and look into a possibility of extending the scope of 
the Directive to other types of sludges and applications other than agriculture. 

7. 

DIRECTIVE 94/62/EC ON PACKAGING AND PACKAGING WASTE 

The Packaging Directive aims to harmonise national measures in order to prevent or reduce 
the  impact  of  packaging  and  packaging  waste  on  the  environment  and  to  ensure  the 
functioning  of  the  Internal  Market.  It  contains  provisions  on  the  prevention,  recovery  and 
recycling of packaging waste and on the re-use of packaging. The Directive sets recycling and 
recovery targets, obliges Member States to introduce collection schemes for packaging waste, 
and  introduces  minimum  requirements  which  all  packaging  has  to  meet  to  be  put  on  the 
Community market. 

The Directive has been properly transposed by all Member States and the overall level of its 
implementation is satisfactory. No infringement cases were open in 2009. 

The Directive has brought about positive environmental effects from the stable recycling and 
recovery  rates  of  packaging  waste5.  In  the  reporting  period  2004–2006,  the  amount  of 
packaging waste generated was on the increase (with a part of this increase due to the 2004 
enlargement of the EU), whilst the recycling and recovery rates remained stable with only a 
slight  overall  decrease.  In  2006,  eight  Member  States  did  not  achieve  one  or  more  of  the 
required  recycling/recovery  targets.  Separate  collection  schemes  for  packaging  waste  were 
implemented  throughout  the  EU,  albeit  with  a  differing  degree  of  efficiency,  and  consumer 
awareness  about  the  need  to  manage  packaging  and  packaging  waste  in  an  environmentally 
sound  manner  was  at  the  focus  of  all  Member  States.  The  practical  implementation  and 
enforcement of the essential requirements was however questioned by some stakeholders and 
triggered a closer scrutiny of the situation by the Commission. 

As regards the Internal Market impacts of the Directive, in recent years legal discussions were 
being  held  between  the  Commission  and  Member  States  on  the  compatibility  of  national 
measures taken to reduce the environmental impact of beverage packaging and the amount of 
waste  which  it  generates  with  the  Internal  Market  rules.  While  their  overall  goal  is  often 
justified  for  environmental  reasons,  certain  national  measures  go  beyond  what  is  necessary 
and  risk  impeding  in  a  disproportionate  way  the  use  and  marketing  of  beverages  and  their 
packaging. In a move to prevent further Internal Market problems and to reduce the number 
of  legal  discussions  with  Member  States,  the  Commission  adopted  a  Communication  on 

5 

See:  2006  Commission  Report  on  the  implementation  of  directive  94/62/EC,  SEC(2006)  1579, 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/packaging/report.htm.  

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"Beverage  packaging,  deposit  systems  and  free  movement  of  goods"  which  summarizes 
solutions found and developed so far6. 

8. 

DIRECTIVE 1999/31/EC ON THE LANDFILL OF WASTE 

The Landfill Directive is intended to prevent or reduce the adverse effects of the landfill of 
waste  on  the  environment,  in  particular  on  surface  water,  groundwater,  soil,  air  and  human 
health.  It  sets  stringent  technical  requirements  for  landfill  sites,  specific  requirements  for 
waste  acceptance  on  the  sites,  and  introduces  landfill  categories  depending  on  the  waste 
intended  to  be  disposed  of.  The  Directive  obliges  Member  States  to  ensure  that  competent 
national  authorities  issue  permits  to  operate  the  sites.  One  of  the  key  provisions  includes 
targets  for  a  gradual  diversion  of  biodegradable  municipal  waste  from  landfills  in  order  to 
reduce methane emissions, coupled with technical requirements for capture and treatment of 
landfill gas. 

The  practical  implementation  of  the  Landfill  Directive  remains  highly  unsatisfactory  and 
considerable efforts need to be undertaken to improve it. Ten years after the adoption of the 
Directive, not all Member States report having transposed and implemented all its provisions 
and  the  Commission  continues  to  open  a  significant  number  of  infringement  cases  against 
Member States for bad transposition or implementation of this legislation. 

The  Commission  receives  on  a  daily  basis  a  vast  number  of  complaints  related  to  illegal 
landfills lacking the permits required by EU waste legislation, causing serious adverse effects 
to the environment and risks to human health. These complaints have demonstrated a general 
and persistent nature of significant implementation deficiencies in a large part of the EU. In 
the  cases  observed,  Member  States  have  often  tolerated  serious  deficiencies  for  long  time 
periods  without ensuring that illegal activities are brought to an end and punished7. A large 
number of landfills do not comply with the requirements of the Directive and there is a real 
risk  that  a  vast  majority  of  Member  States  will  not  meet  the  deadline  of  16  July  2009  by 
which all sub-standard landfills that existed before the introduction of  the  Directive need to 
comply with its requirements (unless specifically derogated). Only nine Member States report 
having met the 2006 targets for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfills 
and capture of landfill gas appears insufficient. 

The problem seems particularly acute in the EU-10 where landfilling remains a predominant 
option  since  no  alternative  waste  management  infrastructure  is  available.  Despite  a  quick 
progress in these countries in closing sub-standard landfills, efforts need to be stepped up to 
ensure full compliance. 

In 2009, thirteen non-conformity cases and eleven bad application cases were pending against 
Member  States  related  to  the  Landfill  Directive.  In  response  to  these  systemic  failures  of 
Member States to properly implement the EU waste legislation, the Commission has taken a 
strategic approach. So-called "horizontal" infringements and court cases have been launched 
addressing  the  lack  of  national  infrastructures  and  effective  enforcement  measures.  Vast 
numbers of individual cases have been used as illustrations. This approach allows problems to 
be solved in more places than if focus would only have been on individual landfill sites. 

6 
7 

OJ C 107, 9.5.2009, p.1 (see: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/regulation/goods/deposit_systems_en.htm).  
See: Commission staff working document on implementing European Community Environmental Law, 
SEC (2008)2876, 18.11.2008, p. 12. 

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9. 

DIRECTIVE 2002/96/EC ON WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT 

The amount of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the EU is presently 
estimated at 8.3-9.1 million tonnes annually, increasing to about 12.3 million tonnes by 2020 
according  to  recent  estimates.  WEEE  needs  to  be  managed  in  a  controlled  way  due  to  its 
quantities  and  often  hazardous  nature,  but  also  because  it  contains  valuable  resources.  The 
WEEE Directive aims to lower the environmental impacts of the disposal of this waste stream 
and  optimise  its  collection,  reuse,  recycling  and  recovery  at  high  environmental  and  health 
standards. The EU's major trading partners have followed the European example and brought 
into force similar legislation (e.g. China, Korea, Japan, some US states). 

Despite the existence of the Directive, only one third of electrical and electronic waste in the 
Community is reported as appropriately treated. The other two thirds are going to landfills and 
potentially to sub-standard treatment sites in or outside the EU. Illegal trade of electrical and 
electronic  waste  to  non-EU  countries  continues  to  be  widespread.  Inadequately  treated 
products pose major environmental and health risks. The collection target of 4 kg per person 
per year does not properly reflect the situation in individual Member States and has not been 
met by five Member States in 2006 (two other did not report). All the ten applicable recycling 
targets were met by only five Member States and the nine recovery targets merely by four. In 
2009, infringement cases for non-conformity with the WEEE Directive were pending against 
fourteen Member States and for failure to report against one. There were also eight pending 
infringement cases for non-conformity with the related RoHS Directive. 

In December 2008 the European Commission proposed to recast the WEEE Directive in order 
to address some of the observed implementation deficiencies, tackle the fast increasing waste 
stream of such products, and strengthen the enforceability of this legislation. 

10. 

DIRECTIVE 2000/53/EC ON END-OF-LIFE VEHICLES 

Directive  2000/53/EC  on  end-of  life  vehicles  (ELV  Directive)8  aims  to  prevent  waste  from 
vehicles and increase the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of end-of-life vehicles 
and  their  components.  It  sets  treatment  requirements  and  promotes  the  design  of  vehicles 
facilitating  their  future recycling.  Details  related  to  the  implementation  of  this  Directive  are 
specified in a separate Commission report.  

A  fairly  good  level  of  formal  implementation  was  reported  by  the  Member  States.  All 
Member States adopted measures transposing the Directive and took steps to set up the waste 
management systems as required by the legislation but some of the provisions of the Directive 
have not yet been transposed fully or correctly. 

Concerning  the  practical  enforcement  of  the  legal  provisions,  Member  States  were  able  to 
provide  more  information  than  for  the  previous  reporting  period,  but  it  remains  difficult  to 
evaluate on the basis of the national reports how the systems for the ELV management work 
in  practice.  The  continuously  large  number  of  infringement  cases  launched  by  the 
Commission suggests that the practical implementation remains below the acceptable level: in 
2009,  nine  cases  of  non-conformity  with  the  directive  were  pending,  including  on  key 
definitions  and  principles  (e.g.  a  definition  of  an  end-of-life  vehicle  or  the  obligation  to 

8 

OJ L 269, 21.10.2000, p. 34. 

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transfer  ELVs  to  authorised  treatment  facilities).  Six  infringement  cases  have  also  been 
launched concerning Member States' failures to report on implementation. 

In 2008, the reuse, recycling and recovery levels achieved in 2006 were reported for the first 
time. It stems from the 25 reports received by the Commission that in 2006 nineteen Member 
States met the reuse/recycling target of 80% and only thirteen met the reuse/recovery target of 
85%9, a result which is not satisfactory. The Commission has written to the Member States 
which have not met the targets to seek explanation for their failure. 

11. 

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) NO 259/93 ON THE SHIPMENTS OF WASTE 

Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  259/93  on  the  shipments  of  waste  (WSR)  implements  into 
Community  legislation  the  1989  Basel  Convention  on  the  control  of  transboundary 
movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal. It organises the supervision and control of 
shipments of wastes in and outside the Community so as to enable the Community as a whole 
to dispose of its own waste and also enable Member States individually to move towards that 
goal,  taking  into  account  the  geographical  circumstances  and  the  need  for  specialised 
installations  to  handle  certain  types  of  wastes  The  reporting  obligations  under  the  Basel 
Convention and the WSR concern shipments of hazardous wastes (green listed wastes are so 
far not subject to obligatory reporting). 

In  June  2009,  the  Commission  adopted  a  report  on  the  generation,  treatment  and 
transboundary  shipment  of  hazardous  waste  and  other  waste  in  the  Member  States  for  the 
period between 2001 and 2006 which indicates: 

•  the  amount  of  hazardous  waste  generated  by  EU-15  increased  by  22%  in  the  reporting 
period from 2001 to 2005 (i.e. ca. 4% increase per annum), while the amount generated by 
EU-25 did not indicate any particular trend; 

•  shipments of hazardous wastes out of, or into EU-15 doubled in 2005 and reached 5.4 and 

3.5 million tonnes respectively; 

•  around 85% (40 million tonnes) of hazardous waste was shipped for recovery; 

•  95% of the waste shipped into EU-15 originated in EU-25 and EFTA countries, while only 

1% arrived from non-OECD countries; 

•  in 2005, an estimated 90% of the Community's hazardous waste was treated in the country 

of origin; 

•  approximately 90% of the hazardous waste shipped remained within EU-15, while 98% of 

the shipments from EU-15 in this period went to EU-25 and EFTA. 

More  details  on  the  implementation  of  this  legislation  can  be  found  in  the  Commission's 
report at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/shipments/reports.htm. 

Regrettably,  reporting  on  incidents/accidents  and/or  illegal  shipments  was,  with  few 
exceptions,  inadequate,  unclear  and  presumably  unrealistic.  This  is  an  important  point  for 

9 

See: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/waste/data/wastestreams/elvs.  

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future improvements given that a significant number of illegal shipments are notified to the 
Commission each year, particularly as regards waste electrical and electronic equipment and 
end-of-life vehicles. 

12. 

COMMISSION ACTION TO IMPROVE THE IMPLEMENTATION 

In  2006,  the  environment  sector  accounted  for  about  one  fifth  of  the  total  number  of  open 
cases  concerning  non-compliance  with  Community  law  under  investigation  by  the 
Commission and remains the sector with the highest number of open cases. The environment 
accounts for about 10% of all Parliamentary questions put to the Commission and remains the 
main  subject  in  35%  of  the  petitions  handled  by  the  Petitions  Committee.  Over  20%  of  all 
environmental infringement cases launched are related to the waste legislation. 

A  largely  unsatisfactory  state  of  implementation  of  Community  legislation  on  waste, 
including  persistent  implementation  gaps,  triggered  a  focused  attention  of  the  Commission 
and a launch of a series of actions aiming to help to improve the situation. 

Compliance checks are carried out on a regular basis, and infringement cases related to waste 
legislation continue to be regularly launched. The Commission's new "horizontal" approach to 
multiple infringement cases related to the Landfill Directive should allow addressing a wider 
spectrum  of  cases  in  each  proceeding  and  thus  accelerate  legal  redress.  The  Commission 
receives,  on  a  regular  basis,  a  large  number  of  complaints,  petitions  and  letters  from  the 
citizens, NGOs, and other EU institutions, constituting a precious source of information about 
the  actual  state  of  implementation  of  waste  legislation.  Information  from  these  sources  is 
verified  in  correspondence  between  Member  States  and  the  Commission,  the  latter  seeking 
further information or making national authorities aware of the problems. 

The Commission  meets  with  the  Member States and stakeholders on a regular basis and on 
various levels, including national experts in the Technical Adaptation Committee, high-level 
meetings  of  the  environmental  directors,  multiple  ad  hoc  expert  meetings  and  frequent 
stakeholder consultations. Such meetings in the number of 20-30 annually allow the exchange 
of  best  practice,  discussion  of  implementation  issues  and  clarification  of  legislation.  The 
Commission  has  issued  a  number  of  implementing  measures  (comitology  decisions) 
clarifying  the  legislation  and  non-binding  guidance  documents,  including  on  WEEE,  ELV, 
batteries,  WFD.  Legal  interpretation  is  provided  on  a  regular  basis  and,  where  necessary, 
legislation is reviewed to bring it up to date with progress made in waste management (e.g. 
review of the WFD, Waste Shipment Regulation, the List of Waste, the ELV targets, WEEE 
and RoHS directives). 

As of 2007, the Commission has undertaken additional steps to improve the implementation 
by launching a number of compliance promotion actions including 36 awareness raising and 
information  exchange  events,  guidance  documents  for  Member  States  on  a  number  of  key 
issues concerning EU waste legislation, joint enforcement actions and inspection activities in 
Member States in close co-operation with IMPEL, establishment of a pilot  phase of a help-
desk  on  the  implementation  of  EU  waste  legislation.  Meetings  with  the  Member  States  and 
stakeholders continued. Further studies are being carried out in order to examine how to best 
address  implementation  problems  in  the  future,  including  a  feasibility  study  on  setting  up  a 
European body for monitoring and supporting the implementation of waste legislation. 

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13. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Whilst Community legislation is reasonably well transposed into national legislation, although 
sometimes  with  significant  delays,  the  lack  of  adequate  enforcement  causes  widespread 
failure  in  achieving  the  agreed  environmental  protection  objectives  in  practice.  The 
implementation and "real-world" application" of waste legislation in the reporting period 2004 
– 2006 remained unsatisfactory in many areas. This confirms earlier observations which had 
already resulted  in  the Commission  stepping up its  efforts  to  assist Member  States  in better 
implementation.  At  the  same  time,  the  quality  of  provided  information  calls  for  a  need  for 
better  information  such  as  in  the  form  of  publically  available  monitoring  indicators  which 
could  facilitate  a  more  in-depth  investigation  into  the  state  of  implementation,  the 
effectiveness  and  efficiency  of  waste  legislation  in  line  with  the  Commission's  Better 
Regulation policy. 

As  demonstrated  by  a  large  number  of  infringement  cases,  the  state  of  practical 
implementation  remains  critical  in  respect  of  the  Waste  Framework  Directive,  the  Landfill 
Directive, and the Waste Shipment Regulation where coordinated efforts are required to bring 
the situation in line with the legislation. Action is needed to address significant deficiencies in 
waste  management  infrastructure,  tackle  a  large  amount  of  illegal  landfills  in  a  significant 
number of Member States and many illegal shipments of waste, mainly electronic waste and 
end-of-life vehicles. In particular, it is advisable that, together with the Commission, Member 
States  and  IMPEL  increase  their  actions  to  bridge  the  implementation  gap  of  the  Landfill 
Directive.  Also  in  various  Member  States  the  results  of  the  WEEE,  Packaging  and  ELV 
directives  remained  below  the  agreed  binding  targets  and  numerous  infringement  cases 
continued to be open. 

Even though progress was made in some Member States, huge implementation efforts need to 
be  undertaken  in  many  countries.  Some  reported  problems  are  particularly  common  in 
countries  which  joined  the  Community  in  2004  where  over  90%  of  waste  continues  to  be 
landfilled. Efforts need to be stepped up in order to bring the waste management infrastructure 
in  line  with  the  requirements  of  the  Community  legislation,  including  creating  separate 
collection  systems  for  different  waste  streams,  education  of  citizens,  investments  in  pre-
treatment of waste before its final disposal. These efforts are crucial to make the letter of law 
effectively protect the environment and human health. 

EN 

10 

   EN