Between 11 and 13 June, the Norwegian Environment Agency kindly hosted the annual IMPEL TFS Conference in Oslo. During this 3-day event 110 participants from 28 IMPEL member countries discussed a variety of topics related to the enforcement of the European waste shipment regulation.
Practical solutions that enhance the joint efforts of environmental agencies and customs in their fight against illegal shipments of waste were presented. Newly developed tools, such as the guidelines for Customs controls on transboundary waste shipments and a manual on how to perform waste transport checks for police forces were highlighted. The IMPEL TFS prosecutors network showed their soon to be launched on-line database that not only contains court rulings on illegal shipment of waste, but also information on level of fines, interpretation issues and prosecution methods. Obviously the amendments to the waste shipment regulation introducing minimum criteria for waste shipments inspections were also an important topic.
Good collaboration with customs officers has proven to be crucial in the fight against illegal shipments of waste; for example when it comes to performing risk assessments, dealing with repatriations and developing new customs codes for certain waste streams. Not only with customs, but also the link with police forces requires the attention and the development of formal collaboration agreements.
Finally the conference generated a number of activities to consider part of the work programme for 2015, which include developing guidance on the drafting of inspection plans, exchanging experiences concerning the testing of WEEE and investigating the role of traders, agents and dealers in the waste chain.
Participants of the IMPEL TFS Conference
