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European waste legislation

1. EU waste legislation in force
2. EU legislation in preparation
3. Basel Convention
4. Reporting obligations for the EU Member States
5. Description of EU legislation

EU waste legislation in force

Click here for a list of EU waste legislation in force which is placed at the EU Commission's website (EUR-Lex). The list contains the electronic version of legal instruments in force in HTML and pdf format (before 1998 html format only). HTML format does not include any tables or graphics that may appear in the legislation.

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EU legislation in preparation

The preparation of new legislation is a process which usually takes several years. The process is complicated and involves the EU Commission, the EU Council and the European Parliament. 

The legislative process and the players involved are described in detail at this website (EU Commission).

Legislation in preparation can be followed on two sites:

• The legislative observatory at the European Parliament's website is a dabasebase of all legislation in preparation and in force. It is possible to follow the history of every piece of legislation, including drafts.
• EUR-lex covers most of these documents but only those for which the legislative procedure is currently under way and which have not been withdrawn.

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Basel Convention

The only international convention covering waste issues is the Basel Conventionen. The convention regulates the import and export of hazardous waste to and from the parties of the convention. Every year the parties shall submit a report to the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on e.g. the quantities of hazardous waste imported and exported. The Basel Convention is implemented in the EU with the Regulation (EEC/259/93)

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Reporting obligations for the EU Member States

The EU Member States have a number of reporting obligations following various directives, regulations and conventions. In addition, the countries are asked to fill in questionnaires from international institutions. Some reporting obligations are legal obligations while others are only moral obligations. In order to provide a complete overview of the many reporting obligations, the EEA has established a Reporting Obligation Database (ROD) containing information on all legal and moral reporting obligations. Click here to go to the ROD database.

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Description of EU legislation

Early phases of Community waste legislation focused on clearly identified problems like for instance hazardous waste shipments, PCB disposal, and waste from the titanium dioxide industry. The legislation reflected the declared aim of the Treaty of approximation of national regulation affecting directly the common market.

Later amendments of the Treaty, particularly the Single European Act (1987) and the Maastricht Treaty (1992) introduced a more general objective of protecting and improving the quality of the environment. These changes allowed for a strengthening of the Community waste legislation aiming at establishing an integrated waste management policy in the Community, but at the same time it created potentially new conflicts with the central policy of creating an internal market.

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