The committee adopted the report by Hans BLOKLAND (EDD, NL) amending the proposal under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure:
- the legal basis of the regulation should be environment policy only and not environment and commercial policy as proposed by the Commission;
- the definitions of "disposal" and "recovery" should be tightened up so that they do not cover mixing, repackaging, exchange, storage or other operations, and it should be explicitly stated that shipments of waste not intended for final disposal or recovery shall not be permitted. The possibility of interim disposal or recovery should therefore be removed from the regulation;
- shipments of municipal/unsorted household waste should be subject to the "prior written notification and consent" procedure. MEPs argued that such waste should not be transported more than absolutely necessary and Member States should be encouraged to solve their household waste problems self-sufficiently;
- harmonisation among the Member States is needed for calculating the financial guarantee, and a straightforward method of calculation should therefore be established by 1 January 2005;
- to prevent "environmental dumping", the state of dispatch should be able to raise objections if the planned shipment would serve to circumvent environmental standards or obligations in force in that state;
- the Commission should draw up guidelines by 1 January 2005 on environmental considerations which may be used as the basis for objections to shipments of waste destined for recovery;
- in cases where there is no Community legislation containing legally binding recovery or recycling obligations, Member States may apply such obligations themselves to shipments of waste destined for recovery;
- shipments of waste to non-OECD countries should be allowed only if the country of destination can prove that the recipient facility will be operated in accordance with similar standards for occupational health and environmental protection as those applicable in the EU;
- waste should be finally disposed of or recovered no later than 180 days following mutual written consent concerning the notification. MEPs argued that an entire calendar year for final disposal or recovery, as the Commission was proposing, was much too long;
- animal by-products not intended for human consumption should not be exempted from the scope of the regulation.�