Answer given by Mr Sinkevičius on behalf of the European Commission
4.6.2021
The Commission is aware of the case concerning 282 containers shipped between May and July 2020 by the Italian company SRA to Soreplast, a Tunisian company, containing mixed municipal waste. The Commission has been in contact with the Italian authorities since December 2020 on this case. The Italian authorities have launched an investigation and requested that the exporting company takes back the waste to Italy. This corresponds to what the Waste Shipment Regulation[1] and the Basel Convention provide for in such a situation. The Commission will continue to follow the developments linked to this case with the Italian authorities.
As part of the ongoing review of the EU rules on waste shipments, the Commission is looking into options to further tighten the rules on the export of waste to countries not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. This includes rules on waste classified as ‘green-listed’, with a view to ensuring that they are only exported outside the EU when they are treated in an environmentally sound manner in the countries of destination.
- [1] Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste, OJ L 190, 12.7.2006, p. 1‐98.