§ Mr. DevaTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what further action is needed in the United Kingdom to implement Council regulation (EEC) No. 259/93, the waste shipments regulation.
§ Mr. AtkinsI announced on 7 February that the United Kingdom had ratified the Basel convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal. The waste shipments regulation, which comes into operation on 6 May, provides the legal framework for implementing the obligations of the convention in the European Community.
Most of the regulation is directly applicable throughout the Community, but domestic regulations are required to give full effect to a number of provisions. The Government have just issued a draft statutory instrument for consultation, accompanied by a draft circular giving 717W guidance on the implementation of the EC regulation in the United Kingdom. Copies of both documents have been deposited in the Library.