WASTE CRIME – WASTE RISKS

Example of criteria to distinguish e-waste from non-ewaste
from the EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (WEEE) – Annex VI: Minimum Requirements
for Shipments:
“In order to distinguish between EEE and WEEE, where the
holder of the object claims that he intends to ship or is shipping
used EEE and not WEEE, Member States shall require
the holder to have available the following to substantiate
this claim:
(a) a copy of the invoice and contract relating to the sale
and/or transfer of ownership of the EEE which states that
the equipment is destined for direct re-use and that it is
fully functional;
(b) evidence of evaluation or testing in the form of a copy of
the records (certificate of testing, proof of functionality)
on every item within the consignment and a protocol
containing all record information according to point 3;
(c) a declaration made by the holder who arranges the transport
of the EEE that none of the material or equipment
within the consignment is waste as defined by Article 3(1)
of Directive 2008/98/EC; and
(d) appropriate protection against damage during transportation,
loading and unloading in particular through sufficient
packaging and appropriate stacking of the load.
the Convention have developed further criteria to support the
process of distinguishing waste from non-waste. In the European
Union, end-of-waste criteria (European Comisssion 2015)
have been developed to specify when certain waste ceases to be
waste and achieves the status of a product or a secondary raw
material – for example, if the substance or object is commonly
used for specific purposes; if there is an existing market
or demand for the substance or object and the use is lawful
(substance or object fulfils the technical requirements for the
specific purposes and meets the existing legislation and standards
applicable to products); and the use will not lead to overall
adverse environmental or human health impacts.
It is estimated that thousands of tonnes of e-waste declared
as second-hand goods are regularly exported from developed
countries to developing countries (Secretariat of the Basel
Convention 2011). The Basel Convention technical guidelines
referred to above have the potential to draw a clear line between
used electronic and electrical equipment and waste electronic
and electrical equipment falling within the scope of the Basel
Convention and its export and import control regime.
What is hazardous waste?
Once the waste status has been established or assumed (in
some cases, in court as a result of legal proceedings), the
question is whether the waste is “hazardous” or “other,” given
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