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Latest developments from the Expert Group on Waste Shipments
Expert Group on Waste Shipments, meeting on 5 March 2025
The fifth meeting of the Expert Group on Waste Shipments and, the first to be held in 2025 provided an opportunity to review the issues at stake and the follow-up to the implementation of the new Waste Shipments Regulation (WSR) published in April 2024 and applicable from May 2026.
Efficient coordination in this matter requires, inter alia, the study of the current regulations (international, supranational and national) and the cooperation of all stakeholders and organizations (OTIF, CIT, UIC, CER, Basel Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Secretariat - BRS).
At the online meeting of 5 March 2025, CIT presented the developments of the work done in 2024 (with two new CIT products in the carriage of waste: the traffic irregularity reporting sheet and the information sheet on the international transport of waste for rail carriers) and the organisational position of the Expert Group within CIT, where it is now officially linked to the CIM Working Group. Explanations of rail carriers’ difficulties with this kind of transport provided a relevant overview of the current situation in the international carriage of waste goods by rail.
The next important steps in 2025 are coming up, starting with CIT’s participation in a specific group on “Electronic approaches to the notification and movement documents” to be held by the Basel Convention Secretariat in Geneva on 2 May during the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP-17). Following that, the next meeting of the Expert Group on Waste Shipments is planned for 2 July 2025 and will be a good occasion to present the results of the Public Consultation of the EU Commission launched in March-April and the content of the Implementing Act (draft available under the link above) expected on 21 May 2025.
