Recital 49

(49) The Union has developed and implemented an ambitious policy to address the serious environmental and human health damage caused by plastic pollution, especially when linked to the mismanagement of plastic waste. The European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, set out in the communication of the Commission of 16 January 2018, the European Green Deal, the New Circular Economy Action Plan and the EU Action Plan: ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil’, set out in the communication of the Commission of 12 May 2021, reflect this ambition and have led to the adoption of a wide range of measures to reduce plastic waste and improve its management. Those measures include in particular legislation on the management of waste (Directive 2008/98/EC), packaging and packaging waste (European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC (20)), single-use plastic products (Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council (21)) as well as on the restrictions of intentionally added microplastics (Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2055 (22)). In addition to these measures, new initiatives have been launched to further reduce plastic waste in the Union, such as the revision of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste and of Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (23) on end-of-life vehicles, as well as a proposal for new rules preventing pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution (24). In order to complement these measures designed to reduce plastic waste and improve its management within the Union, and to avoid the Union exporting its waste challenges to third countries, it is appropriate to lay down specific provisions to also ensure the environmentally sound management of plastic waste exported from the Union. These provisions are aimed at ensuring that plastic waste exported from the Union is treated in conditions equivalent to those in place in the Union. Countries to which the OECD Decision does not apply are more likely to face serious environmental and human health challenges linked to the management of plastic waste exported from the Union. Furthermore, the standards and infrastructure for the management of plastic waste in those countries are, in most cases, not as developed as in the Union. The Union has prohibited the export of certain types of plastic waste, namely those classified under the entries Y48 and A3210, to those countries since 1 January 2021. In light of such challenges and differences in the level of standards and infrastructure elements, and with the aim of further protecting the environment and human health, it is appropriate to extend the scope of that prohibition to cover the export of all plastic waste to countries to which the OECD Decision does not apply. In order to provide economic operators and competent authorities with sufficient time to adapt their operations to these new rules, the prohibition should become applicable 30 months after the entry into force of this Regulation. It should be possible to grant any country to which the OECD Decision does not apply a derogation from this prohibition if it demonstrates that it manages plastic waste in an environmentally sound manner. Such derogation should be granted by means of a delegated act, upon request from a country as from 30 months from the application of the export prohibition.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-03 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.