REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 on shipments of waste Generation, treatment and transboundary shipment of hazardous waste and other waste in the Member States of the European Union and the United Kingdom 2016-2019
Date: 2023-03-17
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, United Kingdom, domestic waste, export of waste, hazardous waste, international convention, intra-EU transport, transport of dangerous goods, waste management

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 17.3.2023  COM(2023) 142 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 on shipments of waste    Generation, treatment and transboundary shipment of hazardous waste and other waste in the Member States of the European Union and the United Kingdom 2016-2019  {SWD(2023) 56 final}  
 
 
1.  INTRODUCTION 

The  European  Union  (“EU”)  is  a  party  to  the  Basel  Convention  on  the  Control  of 
Transboundary  Movements  of  Hazardous  Wastes  and  their  Disposal  of  22  March  1989 
(“the Convention”).  The Convention serves to protect human health and the environment 
against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes. 

Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 
2006 on Shipments of Waste (“the Regulation”) transposes the Convention into EU law.1 
In  November  2021,  the  Commission  proposed  to  replace  this  Regulation  with  a  new 
Regulation2.  This  proposal  is  being  discussed  by  the  European  Parliament  and  the  EU 
Member States.   

Each  calendar  year,  every  Member  State  submits  a  report  on  the  implementation  of  the 
Convention  on  the  previous  calendar  year  to  the  Convention  Secretariat.  A  copy  of  this 
report  (“the  Basel  report”)  is  also  sent  to  the  Commission,  along  with  additional 
information as required via Annex IX of the Regulation (“the EU questionnaire”).3 

Every three years, the Commission draws up an implementation report based on the Basel 
reports  and  the  EU  questionnaires.  This  is  the  sixth  implementation  report  covering  the 
period 2016–2019; this four-annual report is an exception to the usual three-year reporting 
schedule.  Details  of  the  Member  State  reports  can  be  found  in  the  accompanying  staff 
working document.  

The Convention uses the terms ‘import’ and ‘export’ for shipments into or out of Parties 
to the Convention. Under EU law, these terms apply only to shipments into or out of the 
EU. In this document, the terms are used in accordance with the Regulation.  

This  implementation  report  presents  information  on  shipments  of  notified  wastes,  i.e. 
wastes that are subject to the procedure of prior written notification and consent as per the 
requirements  of  the  Regulation.  This  covers  waste  shipments  categorised  as  hazardous 
waste4,  other  notified  waste5,  and  unlisted  waste6.  It  does  not  cover  waste,  which  are 
classified as “green-listed” waste7, as Member States are not required to report on trade in 
such waste. The report therefore does not provide an overview of the overall amount of 

1 Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 on Shipments of Waste (OJ L 190, 12.7.2006, p.1) 
2 https://ec.europa.eu/environment/publications/proposal-new-regulation-waste-shipments_en 
3 Article 51 (1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006. 
4 The Regulation defines hazardous waste by reference to Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste, which 
in turn refers to a list of hazardous wastes to be drawn up; this list was created via the Europe List of 
Wastes (LoW), on which hazardous wastes are denoted with an asterisk. Non-hazardous waste is defined 
as waste, which is not classified as hazardous waste. As the Regulation is compliant with the Convention, 
all waste classified as hazardous by the Convention is classified as hazardous by the Regulation. 

5 “Other notified waste” refers to non-hazardous waste listed in Annex II of the Convention. This includes 
wastes collected from households (Y46) and residues arising from the incineration of household wastes 
(Y47). These categories of waste are subject to controls similar to those placed on hazardous wastes 
under the Convention. 

6 Although data on the generation of unlisted waste is as such not available, unlisted wastes will be captured 

in either the hazardous or other notified waste categories. 

7 “Green listed waste” concern the majority of non-hazardous wastes which can be shipped for recovery 

without prior written notification or consent from the competent authorities. 

1 

 
 
                                                           
waste  shipped  within  the  EU,  exported  from  the  EU  and  imported  into  the  EU.  ’All 
figures in this report are approximate and have been rounded up. 

2.  REPORTING BY MEMBER STATES 

Twenty-six  Member  States  completed  reports  pertaining  to  the  Convention  for  all  four 
years  of  the  2016–2019  reporting  period  (pursuant  to  Article  51  (1)  of  the  Regulation). 
Some  Member  States  submitted  reports  after  the  deadline.  Further  details  on  which 
Member States submitted reports late can be found in the accompanying annex document. 

Twenty-five  Member  States  completed  reports  pertaining  to  the  Regulation  for  all  four 
years  of  the  2016–2019  reporting  period  (pursuant  to  Article  51  (2)  of  the  Regulation). 
Some  Member  States  submitted  reports  after  the  deadline.  Further  details  on  which 
Member States submitted reports late can be found in the accompanying annex document. 

Discrepancies in the amounts of waste reported as shipped from and to EU Member States 
were observed for both hazardous and all notified waste. For all notified waste, the least 
accurate reporting year was 2018, where amounts shipped out of Member States were 3.7 
million  tonnes higher than the amounts shipped to  Member States. For hazardous waste 
the least accurate year was 2016, where amounts shipped out of Member States were 1.1 
million tonnes higher than amounts shipped to Member States. 

3.  GENERATION OF HAZARDOUS AND OTHER NOTIFIED WASTE 

The most recent and relevant figures on the generation of hazardous waste in the EU can 
be found in publications and databases held by the European Commission8.  According to 
the  data  reported  by  the  Member  States  under  the  waste  shipment  regulation,  the  EU 
generated 95 million tonnes of hazardous waste in 2016 and 102 million tonnes in 2018. 
The generation of hazardous waste per capita in the EU was 197kg in 2016 and 210kg in 
2018.  

In  2016,  2.2  billion  tonnes  of  notified  waste  were  generated  in  the  EU  in  2016  and  the 
same amount in 2018. 

4.  WASTE SHIPMENTS OUT OF MEMBER STATES 

Hazardous waste 

In  2016-2019,  the  average  annual  amount  of  all  notified  waste  shipped  from  the  EU27 
was  19.3  million  tonnes,  of  which  an  average  of  6.9  million  tonnes  (36%)  were 
hazardous.  From 2001 to 2019, the total amount of hazardous waste shipped both within 
and outside of the EU has doubled.  

65% of the hazardous waste shipped out of EU Member States in 2016–2019 was treated 
in a recovery operation (i.e. recycled or treated in another recovery operation). The 2016–
2019 65% figure is lower than for the 2013–2015 reporting period, for which it was 76%. 
As  the  proportion  of  hazardous  waste  shipped  out  of  Member  States  and  treated  in  a 
recovery operation had previously been fairly constant between the 2010–2012 and 2013–
2015 reporting periods, the lower figure for 2016–2019 represents a change in the trend. 

8 See https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_wasgen/default/table?lang=en 

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Meanwhile, the proportion of hazardous waste shipped for disposal has remained almost 
constant: 21% in 2016–2019 compared to 22% in 2013–2015. Over the same period, there 
has been an increase in  the proportion reported  as shipped for “mixed” treatment (i.e. a 
combination of disposal and recovery) (2% to 13%).  

Table 1 shows the waste management operations for which hazardous waste was shipped 
out of Member States. 

Table 1. Hazardous waste shipped out of Member States by waste management operation, (1000 tonnes) 

Disposal 
Recovery 
Recycling 
Mix 
Not Specified 

2016 
1,594 
688 
3,012 
802 
1 

2017 
1,710 
847 
4,107 
907 
0 

2018 
1,477 
602 
3,723 
1,059 
1 

2019 
1,299 
677 
4,279 
878 
0 

As  in  previous  reporting  periods,  France  and  Italy  were  the  two  Member  States  that 
shipped out the largest amounts of hazardous waste in 2016–2019, with 6.8 million tonnes 
and 3.9 million tonnes respectively across the four-year period. Germany was the Member 
State shipping out the third largest amount, with 3.6 million tonnes. 

Export from the EU 

In the reporting period 2016-2019, 10% of hazardous waste were exported from the EU. 
These wastes were exclusively exported to OECD countries, as their export to non-OECD 
countries is prohibited.  

Other Notified Waste 

Table  2  shows  other  notified  waste  shipments  by  waste  type.  Note  that  Y46  waste  (i.e. 
waste collected from households) and Y47 wastes (residues arising from the incineration 
of household waste) are subsets of the “other notified waste” category. 

Table 2. Other notified waste shipped out of Member States, 2016–2019 (1000 tonnes) 

Other 
notified 
waste 
Y46 
Y47 

2016 
10,462 

1,268 
639 

2017 
11,960 

2018 
10,927 

1,355 
546 

872 
646 

2019 
9,693 

826 
739 

From 2001 to 2019, the total amount of other notified waste shipped to both within and 
exported  from  of  the  EU  increased  by  463%.  Table  3  shows  other  notified  waste 
shipments by waste management operation. 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table 3.  Other  notified  waste  shipped  out  of  Member  States  by  waste  management  operation, 
(1000 tonnes) 

Disposal 
Recovery 
Recycling 
Mix 
Not Specified 

2016 
508 
3,113 
6,223 
617 
0 

Unlisted Waste 

2017 
542 
3,342 
7,539 
528 
9 

2018 
410 
2,460 
7,397 
660 
0 

2019 
350 
2,714 
6,451 
178 
0 

This section presents data on shipments of unlisted waste. This waste is included in either 
the data on shipments of hazardous waste or the data on shipments of other notified waste, 
based on either classification by  a code in the EU List of Waste (LoW) or else by other 
reported information in the shipment data that identifies shipments as hazardous or non-
hazardous.  In  the  period  2016-2019,  an  average  of  9.5  million  tonnes  of  unlisted  waste 
was shipped. Most of that was destined for recovery operations. 

5.  WASTE SHIPMENTS INTO MEMBER STATES 

All Member States submitted information on waste shipped into their territory pursuant to 
Article  51(1)  of  the  Regulation  for  all  four  years  of  the  2016–2019  reporting  period. 
Twenty-six  Member States reported such waste shipments during 2016–2019, with  only 
Malta reported not having received any hazardous or other notified waste shipment. 

In  2001,  7  million  tonnes  of  all  notified  waste  were  shipped  into  EU  Member  States, 
while  in  the  period  2016–2019;  the  mean  average  amount  of  such  notified  waste 
shipments  per  year  was  24  million  tonnes.  This  is  an  increase  of  231%  from  2001  to 
2016–2019.  While  the  amount  does  fluctuate  from  year  to  year,  the  average  for  2013–
2015  was  22  million  tonnes,  so  there  has  been  a  10%  increase  compared  to  the  last 
reporting period. Furthermore, 2016 (26.1 million tonnes) and 2017 (26.6 million tonnes) 
show  the  highest  levels  of  shipments  into  Member  States  since  2001.  This  continues  a 
general trend of incoming waste shipments increasing over time.  

As  in  previous  reporting  periods,  Germany  was  the  Member  State  where  the  biggest 
amount of notified waste was destined to, shipping in 24 million tonnes over 2016–2019. 
France was second over the four-year period, shipping in 18 million tonnes, while Sweden 
was third, shipping in 12 million tonnes.  

Continuing a trend seen over previous reporting periods, almost all of the hazardous and 
other notified waste shipped into EU Member States in 2016–2019 came from within the 
EU or from EFTA countries. Together, these two sources accounted for 99% of all such 
notified waste shipments.  

Hazardous Waste 

In  2016-2019,  an  annual  average  of  10.2  million  tonnes  of  hazardous  waste  (43%  of 
“imported”  notified  waste)  was  shipped  to  Member  States.  Member  States  and  EFTA 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
 
countries  together  accounted  for  98%  of  the  hazardous  waste  shipped  into  EU  Member 
States in 2016–2019, a small increase compared to 2013–2015, in which they accounted 
for 97%. 

The amount of hazardous waste imported from non-OECD third countries as a proportion 
of the total incoming waste shipments varies between 1 and 2% over the years.  

The  amount  of  hazardous  waste  shipped  into  the  EU  increased  by  265%  from  2001  to 
2019,  somewhat  higher  than  the  percentage  increase  for  all  notified  waste  shipped  into 
Member States (214%).  

In 2016–2019, Member  States shipped 2.6 million tonnes of hazardous waste out  of the 
EU  while  over  the  same  period  11  million  tonnes  were  shipped  into  the  EU  by  third 
countries. Therefore, the EU remains a net importer of hazardous waste.  

France was the top destination for hazardous waste over 2016–2019 (17 million tonnes), 
while Germany was second (10 million tonnes).  

In 2016–2019, 78% of the hazardous waste shipped into Member States was treated in a 
recovery  operation  and  16%  in  a  disposal  operation,  while  6%  was  classified  as 
undergoing  “mixed”  treatment.  The  proportion  reported  as  destined  for  disposal  has 
decreased slightly since 2013–2015 (by 3%), while the proportion reported as destined for 
recovery has increased slightly (by 1%).  

In 2016–2019, 53% of all hazardous waste shipped for disposal in the EU was destined to 
Germany.  This  is  an  increase  compared  to  2013–2015,  in  which  46%  of  all  hazardous 
waste shipped for disposal was destined to Germany. The proportionally high amount of 
hazardous waste for disposal destined to Germany is likely due to the country possessing 
a proportionally greater number of hazardous waste disposal facilities compared to other 
Member States. 

49%  of  hazardous  waste  shipped  for  recovery  was  destined  to  France.  This  is  a  large 
increase from 2013–2015, in which France – while still the destination where the largest 
amount of hazardous waste for recovery was shipped to – received 32% of waste for this 
purpose. 

Other Notified Waste 

59% of all notified waste shipped to Member States were other notified waste. From 2001 
to 2019, the total amount of other notified waste shipped to Member States has increased 
by 189%.  

6.   ILLEGAL SHIPMENTS, INSPECTIONS AND ENFORCEMENT MEASURES 

Illegal Shipments 

There  were  5,502  illegal  shipments  of  waste  reported  by  the  Member  States  in  2016–
2019,  with  an  increase  in  the  number  of  illegal  shipments  being  reported  per  year 
compared with the previous reporting period. While for 2013–2015 there were 933 illegal 
shipments  reported  on  average  per  year,  for  2016–2019  1,376  illegal  shipments  were 
reported per year.  

5 

 
 
 
 
There  has  been  an  improvement  in  reporting  on  the  number  of  spot  checks/inspections 
made compared with the previous reporting period. For 2013–2015, only eleven Member 
States  reported  in  the  format  provided  by  the  EU  questionnaire,  while  for  2016–2019, 
twenty-seven Members States used the correct format.  

The  illegality  of  shipments  reported  ranges  from  what  could  be  genuine  administrative 
mistakes  to  clear  environmentally  harmful  behaviour.  Among  administrative  issues, 
Member  States  commonly  report  shipments 
lacking  the  required  accompanying 
documentation  in  Annex  VII  of  the  Regulation.  Denmark  in  particular  reports  many 
instances of fines being issued for incomplete Annex VII forms. Another reported issue is 
the lack of proper notification. Both France and Germany (two of the Member States with 
the  highest  reporting  of  illegal  shipments)  report  many  cases  of  transports  without 
notification. 

As regards criminal cases, waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) and end-of-
life-vehicles  (ELVs)  are  frequently  mentioned.  For  example,  the  majority  of  Belgium’s 
reported illegal shipments are of hazardous WEEE, while Czech Republic reports WEEE 
misidentified as  electronic and electrical  equipment  (EEE) for reuse (non-waste); Czech 
Republic also reports ELV that are shipped under the guise of second-hand cars.  

In  2016–2019,  Germany  reported  the  highest  total  number  of  illegal  shipments  overall 
with 1,850 cases, constituting 34% of the total number of cases reported in the EU from 
2016  to  2019.  However,  this  is  including  a  high  number  of  ‘minor  violations’  and 
approximately 480 cases of repatriation of waste9. When these minor violations and cases 
are excluded, Germany’s illegal shipments for 2016–2019 fall to 163 cases (4% of total 
cases).  

Belgium is the Member State with the second highest number of illegal shipments, with 
952 cases, representing 25% of the total number of cases reported in the EU from 2016 to 
2019. France reported the next largest number with 625 cases (16%).  

Belgium reported the highest number of illegal shipments for 2013–2015, the Netherlands 
reported the second highest number in that reporting period. As the Netherlands did not 
report for 2018 and 2019, it is not possible to give a total number of illegal shipments for 
the reporting period of 2016-2019. However, for 2016 and 2017 the Netherlands reported 
high  figures,  making  it  the  fourth  highest  reporting  Member  State  for  2016–2017  (after 
Germany, Belgium and France).  

Inspections 

By  2019’s  reporting,  twenty  Member  States  (of  the  twenty-six  Member  States  that 
provided information) reported inspections using the new format by reporting inspections 
disaggregated  by,  firstly,  physical  checks  of  establishments,  undertakings,  brokers  and 
dealers,  related  to  shipments  of  waste,  and  secondly,  by  inspections  of  shipments  of 
waste, including physical checks. Most of these Member States provided a basic level of 
information  and  reporting  numbers  for  the  two  inspection  categories,  while  some 
provided more detailed information.  

Cases of Member States providing more detailed information include  

9 Incidents of repatriation of waste are considered as minor cases as long as there is no significant penalty. 

6 

 
 
 
                                                           
  Germany,  which disaggregated inspections of shipments of waste by federal  and 

state inspections;  

  Belgium, which provided numbers for roadside inspections;  
  Finland disaggregated inspections by the different national authorities undertaking 

them;  

  Greece, which reported the number of data crosschecks; and  
  Portugal, which stated that inspections of shipments of waste include inspections 

of both vehicles and single administrative documents. 

The inconsistency in reporting, and the fact that, even when the new format is used, it is 
not clear what types of inspections Member States are including in their reporting, means 
that the numbers of inspections reported vary greatly across Member States, and that it is 
not possible to compare numbers of inspections across Member States. Furthermore, there 
is  still  no  common  understanding  of  which  enforcement  activities  should  be  counted  as 
‘spot checks10’.  

Enforcement Measures 

Thirteen  Member  States  provided  details  of  the  penalties  that  can  be  issued  under  their 
national  laws,  including  financial  penalties  (Belgium,  Croatia,  Czech  Republic,  Estonia, 
France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) and prison sentences 
(Belgium,  Croatia,  Estonia,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  and  Malta).  There  do  not  appear  to 
have  been  significant  changes  since  the  previous  reporting  period  in  the  penalties 
imposed.  

The  highest  level  of  financial  penalty  reported  remains  the  same  as  in  the  2013–2015 
reporting  period,  that  being  Czech  Republic’s  €2  million  fine,  which  can  apply  to  both 
natural persons and legal entities. The longest prison sentence mentioned also remains the 
same,  this  being  Germany’s  sentence  of  10  years  imprisonment  for  causing  grave 
environmental damage. Just as in 2013–2015, a two-year sentence is a common penalty. 

The data are not robust enough to draw conclusions with regards to whether higher fines 
and  longer  prison  sentences  act  as  a  deterrent  to  the  illegal  shipment  of  waste.  It  also 
remains the case that Belgium has both the highest total number of illegal shipments and 
the  second  and  third  highest  fines  (up  to  €500,000  in  Flanders  and  up  to  €1,000,000  in 
Wallonia) and the imposition of prison sentences (five years).  

7.  NEXT STEPS 
The Commission published an evaluation of the Regulation on 30 January 202011. Further 
to this, the Commission has tabled a proposal for a new regulation on waste shipments on 
17  November  2021.  This  proposal  is  currently  considered  by  the  co-legislators  in  the 
European Parliament and the Council. 

10 Regulation (EU) No 660/2014, which amends Regulation No 1013/2006, replaced the term ‘spot check’ 

with the term ‘inspection’ in the Regulation . This took effect as of January 2016. 

11https://ec.europa.eu/environment/pdf/waste/shipments/SWD_2020_26_F1_SWD_EVALUATION_EN_V

4_P1_1064541.pdf  

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