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As noted in the previous Review, the EU WSR bans all exports of hazardous waste to non-OECD countries and all exports of waste for disposal outside the EU/EFTA. Illegal waste shipments must be taken back when detected. The WSR allows non-hazardous waste to be exported for recovery operations outside the OECD but requires national authorities to verify that it will be managed in an environmentally sound manner in facilities that are operated in accordance with standards that are broadly equivalent to standards established in the EU. The WSR requires member States to lay down rules on the penalties applicable for the infringement of its provisions. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. The WSR also requires member States to cooperate, bilaterally and multilaterally, with one another in order to facilitate the prevention and detection of illegal shipments.

Whether a shipment is authorized under the WSR (waste shipment regulation), and under what conditions, depends on the cross-border movement, the processing method, the type of waste and the country of destination. EU legislation imposes stricter requirements on some types of waste than others, depending on the environmental and health risk. In the case of e-waste for example, the EU introduced the so-called Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive in order to prevent and reduce the adverse impacts from the generation and management of WEEE. This Directive came into force in 2003 and was recast in 2012.

The EU has introduced extensive amendments to both the WSR [100] (in 2014) and the WEEE Directive (in 2012) concerning inspections and enforcement. Amendments to the WSR introduced in June 2014 will not fully come into force until 2017. [102] These amendments have the potential to improve inspection and enforcement on the ground, to the extent that the individual member States are willing and able to provide the necessary budgetary and staff resources to implement the new provisions effectively. As the Commission has pointed out, while some member States have thorough, well-functioning inspection systems targeting either illegal waste shipments in ports or on the sites of waste producers and collectors, others lag behind. This leads to "port hopping" – exporters of illegal waste choosing to export their waste from member States with the most lenient controls.

[100] In 2013, the Commission proposed a revision to the WSR to provide for stronger national inspections of waste shipments, which was officially adopted in 2014 as Regulation (EU) No. 660/2014 of 17 July 2014. OJ L 189 of 27 June 2014, pp. 135–142.
[102] By 1 January 2017, member States were to have established inspection plans, including the objectives and priorities of the inspections, the geographical area covered by the inspection plans and the tasks assigned to each authority involved. The inspection plans must be based on a risk assessment carried out for specific waste streams and sources of illegal shipments. They are to be regularly reviewed and updated at least every three years.

In July 2016, the Commission adopted an implementing regulation [103] setting out a preliminary correlation table between customs and waste codes. The table, which has been integrated in the customs' TARIC database, is expected to serve as a tool to assist in curbing illegal exports of waste out of the EU. This regulation is in line with the further measures foreseen by the Commission in its Circular Economy Action Plan adopted on 2 December 2015 to help ensure that the WSR is effectively implemented and that illegal shipments causing raw material leakage are addressed more effectively.

[103] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 2016/1245 of 28 July 2016 setting out a preliminary correlation table between codes of the CN provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2658/87 and entries of waste listed in Annexes III, IV and V to Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on shipments of waste. OJ L 204/11 of 29 July 2016.

Specific CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) activities cover electro-technical standardization in sectors including: electric vehicles, smart grids and smart metering, household appliances, electrical engineering, fibre optic communications, fuel cells, medical equipment, railways, and solar electricity systems. An increasing number of sectors are being addressed together by CEN (European Committee for Standardization), CENELEC and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) regarding, for example, innovative technologies, smart grids and eco-design.

(...) In 2015, CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) approved and published some 473 harmonized standards which were intended for citation in the EU Official Journal, in support of specific directives and regulations. CEN and CENELEC also accepted 14 new standardization requests from the European Commission, relating, inter alia, to eco-design and energy labelling of energy related products. (...)

In addition to the three European standardization organizations (ESOs), the European Commission plays a role in standardization by funding participation in the standardization process by small and medium-sized companies and non-governmental organizations, such as environmental and consumer groups and trade unions. (...)

Table 3.12 Roles of main actors in setting and executing EU standardization policy (Commission-requested standardization)
Main actors Tasks and/or roles
(...)
European stakeholder organizations meeting the criteria in Annex III and financed by the Union (Annex III organizations)
(...) - ensure that SMEs', consumers', workers' and environmental interests are made known to the Commission before the Union work programme (UWP) or new standardization requests are adopted; (...)

Box 3.2 New Legislative Framework
The NLF aims to: (i) improve market surveillance rules to better protect both consumers and professionals from unsafe products, including those imported from outside the EU. In particular, this applies to procedures for products which can pose danger to health or the environment;
(...)
Alignment of product legislation: A main objective of the Commission is to bring product harmonization legislation in line with the reference provisions of Decision 768/2008/EC. The following directives and regulations were aligned with these reference provisions:
(...)
3. Restriction of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment - Directive 2011/65/EU
(...)

(...) Conformity assessment procedures in the EU product legislation range from a self-certification examination and production quality control system, to a full quality assurance system, depending on the impact of the product on the protection of public interest (health, safety, environment, etc.). (...)