National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

As well as being numerous and complex, laws and regulations can also be
vague and inconsistent. As a result, definitions and interpretations often differ.
For example, it is difficult to determine the difference between a waste material
and a second-hand good. Players that do not strictly observe the rules may
benefit from this lack of clarity, because if they are discovered they can easily
rely on misunderstandings or differences in interpretation. As a result, their true
intentions will be difficult to determine. In addition, the chance of being caught
is small. Supervision, enforcement and criminal investigation agencies are facing
a capacity shortage, insufficient knowledge, a lack of expertise, fragmentation
and sometimes conflicting interests.
Furthermore, the processing of waste has become more and more of an
international phenomenon. Proper criminal investigations require international
collaboration and good mutual exchange of information. In practice this is still
difficult to achieve. Another complicating factor is that there are significant
differences between countries in the organisation, working method and priority
for enforcement and criminal investigations in relation to illegal waste streams.
The effects of the new EU Regulation on the Shipment of Waste, which came
into force in July 2007, are also not yet clearly visible. It is hoped that a lot of
the vagueness relating to terms and the ambiguity of rules have now been
removed, so that violators are no longer able to hide behind this screen.
The recycling of waste is an important source of secondary raw materials.
Over three quarters of white goods, brown goods and televisions are now
recycled, and a great many scrap vehicles are also processed into recyclable parts
or secondary raw materials. The general expectation is that the waste-processing
industry will develop more and more into a fully-fledged supplier of raw
materials. Most of the players will operate within the rules, but some will
be involved in illegal activities on the market.
Enforcement operations have had positive results in recent years: whereas over
half the retailers used to hand over waste to non-certified collectors, the figure
has now dropped to below 20%. To continue reaping the benefits of these
operations, it is important to keep performing them and to perform them with
regard to several waste streams. However, the reduction in supervision costs and
the number of rules, as targeted by the government for several years, may have
the opposite effect and offer more room for crime. Not all players in the waste
sector will be able to handle a more hands-off government approach, which
may lead to an increase in crime.
The market for waste materials will probably change due to economic progress
in the receiving countries. Increased wealth reduces the need to recycle waste
128 National Threat Assessment 2008 – Organised crime