Prosecution of Illegal Waste Shipments | Umweltbundesamt

We hereby inform about the supervision of transboundary waste shipment, as required by Article 51 of the European Waste Shipment Regulation.

The control of shipments of waste is regulated by § 11 of the German Waste Shipment Act (Abfallverbringungsgesetz).

• § 11(1) Obligation of the authorities of the federal states regarding inspections of facilities and companies
• § 11(2) Obligation of the authorities of the federal states on spot checks of waste shipments; Participation of customs and the Federal Agency for Traffic of Goods (Bundesamt für Logistik und Mobilität (BALM))
• § 11(3) Information of the competent authorities
• § 11(4) Competence for measures for safe storage until the decision for further action has been taken

Article 18 of the Waste Shipment Act and the Ordinance on fines for waste shipments contain provisions on administrative fines regarding waste shipments.

The illegal shipment of waste is a criminal offense pursuant to § 18a and § 18b of the Waste Shipment Act und is punished with imprisonment of up to fifteen years or a fine.

Data about enforcement are available in the tables below. To that the following additional remarks:

• The data of the Federal States on transport checks can overlap with the figures of the BALM. Occasion-related checks by the police are probably only partially included.
• All shipments which leave or enter the territory of the European Union at the German border (ports, airports and the border to Switzerland) are subject to customs controls.
• The Federal States is also participating in the joint enforcement activities of the European enforcement network IMPEL. (Shipment of Waste Enforcement Actions Project (SWEAP)).