asked the Minister for the Environment the role his Department plays in monitoring the exportation annually of approximately 15,000 tons of waste with respect to (a) its method of carriage (b) the safety of the containers and (c) the verification by way of documentation of the safe transportation of the waste from the State to its destination abroad; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Hazardous Wastes Exportation.
32.
In relation to the export of hazardous wastes, a new control régime provided for in the European Communities (Transfrontier Shipment of Hazardous Waste) Regulations, 1988, will come into operation on 1 November 1988. These regulations give effect to EC Directives of 1984 and 1986 and provide the legal framework for this country's participation in a Community-wide control system under which hazardous waste movements — including those to or from third states — will be subject to prenotification and documentation requirements from production stage to final disposal. The regulations apply both to exports and imports of hazardous waste. For export purposes, the designated competent authority is the local authority from whose area a transfrontier shipment commences. My Department have no direct statutory function in relation to waste exports but is the designated competent authority for waste import purposes, should that ever arise, and for any transit of hazardous waste through the State for disposal in another state.
Prenotification of an export consignment from this country must be in the form of a prescribed consignment note and must include information on the mode of transport as well as the form of packaging. The notification must be accompanied by information on the measures to be taken to ensure the safe transportation of the waste and to ensure compliance by the carrier with the requirements of any member state concerned in relation to the transport of the waste. Evidence of a contractual agreement with the consignee of the waste and of the existence of adequate technical capacity for disposal of the waste must also be furnished. Where a local authority is notified of a proposed transfrontier shipment, it may specify such conditions as it considers appropriate in relation to the transportation of the waste concerned.
Under the regulations, a copy of the completed consignment note, acknowledged by the relevant competent authority, must accompany each consignment of waste. In addition, the holder of the waste is obliged to take measures to ensure that the consignee, within 15 days of receipt of the waste, forwards a copy of the duly completed consignment note to the holder, to the local authority concerned and to the relevant authorities of other states concerned.