Italian decree ‘seriously affects’ scrap shipments

Belgium/Italy – The BIR world recycling organisation has made an official approach to the European Commission and to Italy’€™s Environment Minister regarding what it describes as ‘€˜far-reaching amendments to the Italian waste shipment regulation’€™.

A decree dated April 4 adds new requirements to the previous regulation and ‘€˜seriously affects shipments of recyclables from Italy, including ferrous and non-ferrous metals scrap, to countries outside the EU’€™, according to BIR. Each international waste shipment must now be accompanied by a certificate issued by the authorities in the destination country confirming that the environmental standards applicable there are comparable to those prescribed in the EU. In a letter to the European Commission, BIR expresses its deep concern that the amended Italian legislation differs from the EU’€™s 2006 waste shipments regulation which is applicable in all EU member states and which should be enforced in the same manner everywhere in the EU. The world body’€™s letter to Italy’€™s Environment Minister Corrado Cini highlights the potential for this legislation to have a devastating effect on operators in Italy and to jeopardise supplies to steelworks, non-ferrous metals smelters, foundries and paper mills around the globe. A representative of Italian BIR member federation Assofermet states: ‘€˜The requirements of the decree not only conflict with the current EU legislation but are also completely unrealistic and impracticable. There is no indication of methods for obtaining such a certificate or a list of authorities entitled to issue such a declaration. Moreover, the decree does not specify any criteria for determining whether standards of the importing country are comparable to those of the exporting country.’€™