• Client:  EC - DG Environment
  • Implementation period: April, 2017 - October, 2018 (Completed)
  • Geographic coverage: European Union

How has the Waste Shipment Regulation and the Regulation (EC) No 1418/2007 performed so far?

The project (the report is expected to be published by end 2018) focuses on the thorough evaluation of the application of the Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) in all Member States, including all its amendments and existing rules from Regulation (EC) No 1418/2007 on the export for recovery of certain waste to non-OECD countries. This is accomplished along the European Commission’s Better Regulation Guidelines to evaluate the WSR’s effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance, and EU-added value. This will provide the European Commission with evidence as to the process of implementation of the Regulation and for further planning. The project is conducted by Trinomics in collaboration with AMECFW (lead), Technopolis and BiPRO (Ramboll). The project runs from April 2017 and will finish by end of October 2018.

In order to carry out the evaluation, an intervention logic and analytical framework was developed, including a set of specific evaluation questions. A combination of research methods and analytical tools have been used, including literature review and consultation via both open public questionnaires as well as targeted questionnaires and interviews, and two stakeholder workshops.

The key findings of the project so far are:

  • The Regulation overall is viewed as being effective, internally coherent, relevant for its intended purpose. 
  • It’s viewed as providing EU-added value, beyond what the OECD Decision or Basel Convention does otherwise (and with greater ambition).  
  • Two of the legislation’s greatest challenges are creating further uniformity between Member States and ensuring it remains relevant to the rapidly evolving waste markets (i.e. by facilitating the trade of recyclates).  
  • The costs of the Regulation are generally viewed as disproportionate to the benefits, particularly for SMEs who have larger administrative costs as a result. The digitization of the waste shipment procedure could relieve some costs.