Expert Group on Waste
The Expert Group on Waste held discussions on waste shipments on 13 May 2024, 20 June 2025 and 27 March 2026.
Waste shipment correspondents
The Waste Shipment Regulation requires EU Member States and the Commission to nominate correspondents who are responsible for informing or advising persons or undertakings making enquiries related to the implementation of the Regulation.
Please find the most recently updated list of correspondents here.
In the past, correspondents had meetings where the minutes were publicly available. See here.
See below for other related documents:-
Digital Waste Shipment System (DIWASS)
Digitalisation of waste shipment procedures is one of the key deliverables of the new Waste Shipment Regulation, as it will facilitate shipments of waste, notably between EU Member States, ensuring that waste is shipped to the best option for its treatment while maintaining a proper level of monitoring.
For that reason, the Commission is working intensively to develop a system for the electronic submission and exchange of information and documents related to shipments of waste.
The Digital Waste Shipment System (DIWASS) will be used for document and information exchange from 21 May 2026.
Background
Today, in several Member States, electronic approaches to shipments of waste are already in place. At the same time, some Member States do not have any digital system for this purpose. Consequently, the Regulation obliges the Commission to:
- Develop a central system that can be directly accessed by competent authorities and stakeholders involved in waste shipments (through a Graphical User Interface, i.e. a website);
- Develop a central hub that allows the exchange of information and documents between the central system and local systems operated by certain competent authorities, as well as corporate software or software offered by commercial software providers (interconnection via APIs).
DIWASS will perform both these functions.
The Commission was also tasked with laying down requirements for local systems and commercial software to interoperate with DIWASS. These requirements were established in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1290, adopted on 2 July 2025.
The adoption of the act was preceded by intensive discussions within the Committee on Waste, which unanimously issued a positive opinion on the draft act.
In January 2026, the Commission published the technical documentation for the API interconnection on this website. This documentation supports the interconnection of software with DIWASS. For more details, please refer to the 'Preparations for using DIWASS' section below.
Interconnections between DIWASS and local systems, operated by competent authorities in some Member States, are prepared to ensure that these competent authorities are properly connected to DIWASS. Information will be published soon on how specific competent authorities that oversee waste shipments in your country or region connect to DIWASS.
From 21 May 2026, all actors involved in waste shipments, where an EU Member State is concerned, will have the means to comply with the Regulation’s obligation to submit and exchange waste shipment-related information and documents via electronic means.
The Implementing Act requires the competent authorities to indicate how they and the operators with a registered office in their Member State or region, respectively, must access DIWASS.
DIWASS can be accessed:
- via the Graphical User Interface (Commission’s website); or
- via a local system of that Member State, which is interconnected with DIWASS.
This choice needs to be made in the context of the three components of DIWASS:
- notification procedure (including generation and complementing movement documents);
- generation and completion of Annex VII documents for shipments of green-listed waste;
- providing economic operators with decisions and information on pre-consented recovery facilities.
Competent authorities may choose a hybrid approach by mandating the use of the local system for some components (e.g., notification procedure) and requiring the use of the DIWASS website for others (e.g., exchange of Annexe VII documents).
Competent authorities should inform their economic operators of how they should access DIWASS. Suppose competent authorities require economic operators to use their local system. In that case, they should also indicate whether commercial software must be connected to that local system or may connect directly to DIWASS.
The Commission will publish an overview of how DIWASS should be accessed on this website after 3 February 2026.
DIWASS will also be accessible to third-country competent authorities and third-country economic operators voluntarily.
The Commission continues its work, in close cooperation with the Member States, to prepare for and facilitate the submission and exchange of waste shipment-related documents and information via DIWASS.
GUI
Member State Competent authorities have been instructed on the use of DIWASS via the Graphical User Interface.
The Commission provided the competent authorities with first versions of instruction manuals to help them become more familiar with DIWASS. Subsequently, the competent authorities will provide training to economic operators in their jurisdictions.
API
Technical documentation to support local system or software interconnection can be consulted here, as updated on 27 February. Please refer to the release note to review the scope of changes and additions covered by the documentation update.
Also, please note that the documentation is continuously updated, and you are advised to return regularly for updates to the specifications.
Support
Please note that the Commission does not envisage providing training on the use of DIWASS to economic operators – this is primarily the responsibility of the respective competent authorities.
The competent authorities should also ensure that operators with a registered office in their Member State or region can address them with any questions on the use of the DIWASS, including by organising a helpdesk function. The Commission will only provide support in technical issues related to the functioning of the central system. The Commission’s central Helpdesk can be reached through: SANTE-TRACES
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (SANTE-TRACES[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
Please note that the Commission does not envisage providing training on the use of DIWASS to economic operators – this is primarily the responsibility of the respective competent authorities.
Exchange of Annex VII documents
At the 27 March 2026 meeting, the Expert Group on Waste agreed that existing procedures for the exchange of Annex VII documents will remain in place from 21 May to 31 December 2026, pending the resolution of software and system interconnection challenges.
Please refer to the meeting report Annex for further practical details on the exchange of Annex VII documents during this period.
Green-listing of waste for shipments within the EU
One of the objectives of the new Waste Shipment Regulation is to support the transition to a circular economy in the EU by strengthening the single market for waste and facilitating shipments of waste destined for recycling between Member States.
The Regulation contains several measures aimed at achieving this aim. Among others, it empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts:
- Green-listing certain non-hazardous waste for intra-EU shipments.
- Green-listing certain non-hazardous waste mixtures for intra-EU shipments.
- Establishing criteria, such as contamination thresholds, based on which to differentiate between the green-listed waste and (mixtures of) waste subject to the notification procedure for intra-EU shipments.
To explore the potential green-listing of certain waste, the Commission collected input through a public consultation seeking the views of all stakeholders. The Commission is now analysing this input and will collect further evidence to underpin the adoption of any delegated act, as mentioned above.
Notification by non-OECD countries willing to receive waste
Non-OECD country authorities wishing to import waste from the EU are invited to notify the European Commission of their willingness and to demonstrate their ability to treat this waste in an environmentally sound manner, as per Annexes VIII and IX of the Regulation.
Under the waste shipment regulation, non-OECD countries willing to continue receiving waste from the EU had to submit their request to the Commission by 21 February 2025.
In respect of the deadline, to submit a request by the end of February, requests for inclusion on the list of countries eligible to import non-hazardous waste from the EU were received from Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, El Salvador, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan1, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Ukraine and Vietnam.
In addition, two countries have submitted their requests in June and July 2025, respectively: Lao DPR and Andorra.
Find an overview of the waste streams contained in the requests here.
Countries that have not submitted a request by 21 February 2025 can still send one to the Commission. These requests will still be considered, but there is no guarantee that their assessments will be finalised before the first list of countries authorised to import waste from the EU is established. This first list is planned for adoption in November 2026.
The request must be submitted by the competent national authority designated by that country. Requests can be submitted using the 'Request for Inclusion' form, which can also be found below. Requests must include detailed evidence supporting the country's claims, structured in accordance with the form's guidance note.
This request must be submitted electronically to the following email address:- ENV-WASTE-SHIPMENTSec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ENV-WASTE-SHIPMENTS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
Or by registered post to the following address:-
European Commission
DG Environment – Unit B3
Avenue d’Auderghem 19
1040 Brussels
Belgium
This request and all related documentation or other communications shall be provided in English or with an English translation.
The European Commission will assess the applications received and draw up a list of non-OECD authorities authorised to import specific waste streams from the EU. In the assessment process, the Commission may contact applicant countries to seek clarifications or request to complete the information provided.
A first list of authorised countries will be established by 21 November 2026, and exports to non-OECD countries not on the list will be prohibited. This list will be updated regularly and at least every two years.
More information can be found here.
1 The use of the term ‘country’ should not be interpreted as reflecting any official position of the European Union with regard to the legal status of Taiwan.
Waste Shipment Enforcement Group
The Waste Shipment Regulation, established with its entry into force, a new EU-level group to facilitate and improve cooperation and coordination between the Member States in order to prevent and detect illegal shipments: the ‘Waste Shipment Enforcement Group’ or WSEG.
The WSEG consists of representatives of all EU Member States and the Commission, and is meant to be a forum for sharing information relevant to the prevention and detection of illegal shipments, for exchanging views on best practices, as well as for facilitating cooperation and coordination between relevant authorities.
The WSEG held its first meeting in Warsaw, Poland, from 22 to 23 May 2025.
Implementation reports
Every three years, the Commission must report on the implementation of the regulation. Please see below for prior documentation.
- 2016-2019: Implementation report
- 2013-2015: Implementation report and staff working document
- 2010-2012: Implementation report and staff working document
- 2007-2009: Implementation report and staff working document part 1 and part 2
- 2001-2006: Implementation report and staff working document
- 1997-2000: Implementation report and staff working document
Guidelines
Read all correspondent guidelines.
Several Member States have published their own guidance documents for the implementation of the Waste Shipment Regulation:
- AT / Lebensministerium (Ministry of the Environment)
- BE / Flanders
- BE / Wallonie
- BE / Brussels
- DE / BMU (Federal Ministry of the Environment)
- UBA (Federal Environmental Agency)
- DK / Miljøstyrelsen (Danish Environmental Protection Agency)
- EE/ Estonian Ministry of the Environment (keskkonnaamet)
- FI / Finnish Environment Institute
- FR / Ministère de l'Ecologie et du Développement durable
- IE / EPA
- NL / Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment)
- SE / Naturvardsverket (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency)
IMPEL network
The cross-border shipment of waste is a key focus of IMPEL, the EU network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law. See IMPEL’s guidance on waste shipment inspection planning.
Contact
Contact details for Competent Authorities in Member States
Overview of Customs Offices in Member States
For questions about EU environmental policy, please contact Europe Direct.