Transboundary shipments of waste

Companies and other business players who want to export waste from the territory of the Flemish region to another country or who want to import waste from another country into the Flemish region, have to comply with the requirements of Council Regulation (EC) 1013/2006 on shipments of waste. This Regulation applies in all member states of the European Union.

The EU Waste Shipment Regulation transposes into EU legislation the 1989 Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal and the 2001 OECD Council Decision on the control of transfrontier movements of wastes destined for recovery operations. With this Regulation, EU member states aim to limit the transboundary movement of waste and want to supervise and control waste transports in order to minimize the danger to the environment and to public health. The Regulation stipulates which waste transports are allowed and which are prohibited and determines which procedures have to be abided by when transporting waste.

In the Flemish region, the OVAM (Public Waste Agency of Flanders) has been designated the competent authority for the import and export of wastes.