Since 2012, there has already been a cooperation agreement between the Netherlands and Germany regarding checks on illegal waste transport. The cooperation agreement has since been updated and re-signed. This cooperation is there to prevent cross-border environmental crime and to prevent the resulting damage to the environment and people. So you cannot just transfer waste across the border to another EU member state. If you want to transfer waste across the border, you have to comply with European regulations and you need a permit. These regulations are described in the European Waste Transfer Regulation (EVOA). The waste transport must also be reported in time, the load of this transport is then checked by the German police or the ILT. It is checked whether the permit for this transport corresponds to the load.
“In the past, we already worked closely with our German partners to combat environmental crime. Due to the corona measures, it was not easy to work closely together. With the agreement we start a new phase. We share available information and organize inspections together to improve compliance in the border area. It is important that substances are handled or traded correctly to prevent them from ending up in places where they do not belong. For example, in the case of illegal dumping on or in the soil and with which the living environment is unnecessarily polluted.”
Recently, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate and the German police checked various waste shipments across the German-Dutch border. During this check, dozens of vehicles were taken off the road and checked. These types of checks check, among other things, whether the load is properly secured, whether the driver is in possession of the correct papers and whether it is not illegal waste transport and what the final destination is of the waste transport. During this check, violations were found in 1 in 4 transports, the German police and the ILT issued 8 fines, issued 2 official warnings and an official report was drawn up.
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