As an exporter you must obtain consent from all competent authorities involved before exporting notifiable waste. The notifier/exporter is responsible for the entire process and to familiarise themselves with the regulations regarding notifiable waste. Exporters applying for consent from the Norwegian Environment Agency must be under Norwegian jurisdiction.
All documents regarding the exported waste sent to, or by, the competent authorities shall be kept for at least three years.
It will take some time from receipt of an application for the involved authorities to consent, so we recommend applying three to four months ahead of the shipment.
This is a brief overview of the process for exporting notifiable waste.
Classifying the waste
As an exporter, you need to have certain information about the waste, such as:
- origin of the waste
- whether it contains hazardous substances
- correct Basel codes
- correct codes based on the European List of Waste
- whether it has hazardous charactieristics, see codes in annex III of the Basel Convention
Recipient country regulations
Some countries can have stricter rules for receiving certain types of waste. As an exporter, you must familiarise yourself with the applicable regulations and ensure that the waste is managed in a way that is not harmful to human health or the environment.
The Norwegian Environment Agency can reject export to countries outside the OECD where there is reason to believe the waste will not be managed responsibly.
Article 36 of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation lists wastes that are banned from export to non-OECD countries.
If you have questions about notifiable waste in the recipient country, you can find the contact details of the competent authority in the list of official contacts.
Setting up a contract with the recipient
When exporting any notifiable waste, there needs to be a contract between the exporter and importer, and possibly the recovery/disposal facility if this is different from the importer.
The contract must be valid from the first shipment starts, until the treatment of the last shipment has been completed.
The contract should include the duties of the exporter, importer and disposal/recovery facility, and be in line with the requirements of article 5 of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation.
Financial guarantee
The Norwegian Environment Agency requires a valid financial guarantee, which shall cover the duties stated in article 6 of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation. The financial guarantee must be submitted to us by the exporter or a representative of the exporter under Norwegian jurisdiction.
The financial guarantee must be valid for a minimum of one year after consent has been given. The same financial guarantee can be used for multiple consents as long as the requirements in the regulation are met.
Applying for consent
When exporting notifiable waste, you must apply for consent from the relevant authorities in the country of export, country of import and any transit countries.
When exporting from Norway, the application, or notification, must be sent to the Norwegian Environment Agency. The Norwegian Environment Agency processes the notification and forwards it to the country of destination. Normally a consent for export of waste is valid for one year.
The notification must meet the requirements set out in article 4 of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation.
You must pay a fee for the processing of the notification to the Norwegian Environment Agency and the country of destination. The fee varies from country to country.
Changes after consent
The Norwegian Environment Agency accepts changes to the list of waste producers, list of carriers and total intended number of shipments after consent is provided. We do not accept changes in border crossing, waste type, dates, quantity, facility, or consignee.
Prior information regarding actual start of shipment
Prior information regarding actual start of shipment shall be sent to the involved authorities at the latest, three working days before the shipment.
To the Norwegian Environment Agency, you provide advance notification via email by sending in Annex 1B. It is important that the NO-number as well as the letter ‘F’ is mentioned in the subject line of the email. Example: NO 123456 F.
Export declaration
Any waste being transported out of the country must be declared in the Norwegian Customs’ electronic system for exchanging custom declarations (TVINN).
For notifiable waste, state the reference code U2 followed by the notification number in box 44 of the export declaration: “U2 NO xxxxxx”.
Reporting to the Norwegian Environment Agency
Exporters and importers of waste under Norwegian jurisdiction must report all shipments of notifiable waste to the Norwegian Environment Agency on an annual basis, by 1 March every year.