The European Commission has issued a notice to stakeholders warning that Northern Ireland will be treated as an EU member state with waste shipment regulations, in the event of the UK leaving the European Union without a deal.
The Commission issued the notice this week, 29 June
The notice, issued by the Commission on Monday, 29 June, states that it is “uncertain” if a deal can be reached before the end of the transition period on 31 December, and this would “create a relationship which in terms of market access conditions will be very different from the United Kingdom”.
Waste shipments
The notice was split into three sections, with the third one covering Northern Ireland.
The first explained that if the UK leaves without a deal, member states would not be able to export waste for disposal or mixed municipal waste for recovery operations to the UK.
Following this, the notice referenced targets, and said where recovery of waste generated in the EU takes place outside the bloc, member states can count that waste “towards the fulfilment of their EU waste management targets depending on the treatment conditions outside the EU”.
Northern Ireland
Shipments of waste between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK could be impacted
The third section explained that protocol covering Ireland and Northern Ireland makes certain provisions of EU law applicable “also to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland”.
“The EU and the United Kingdom have furthermore agreed that insofar as EU rules apply to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland is treated as if it were a Member State.”
This would means European waste shipment regulations would apply to waste being moved between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including prior consent regulations.
‘Consider’
The Commission says that “to address the consequences set out in this notice, stakeholders are advised to consider waste streams currently destined for disposal in the United Kingdom and adapt them in light of this notice”.
However, it added that consignments of waste can still enter the EU or the United Kingdom on the basis of a notification document on which the competent authorities of dispatch, transit and destination have given their consent.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
