Waste statistics

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 on EU waste statistics

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

This European Union (EU) law permits the gathering of regular and comparable data on waste in EU countries and their transmission to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office.
The statistics collected allow EU waste policy implementation to be monitored and evaluated.

KEY POINTS

Scope

The law covers the production of statistics by EU countries and the European Commission in their respective fields of competence:

waste generation (Annex I to the regulation);
recovery and disposal of waste (Annex II to the regulation).

Nomenclature

EU countries and the Commission are required to use the nomenclatures (categories) set out in Annexes I to III to produce their statistics. These nomenclatures refer to

waste categories (e.g. spent solvents, mineral and metallic wastes),
economic activities (ranging from mining to food or textile production) and
waste management operations (e.g. sewerage, industrial waste treatment or materials recovery).

Data collection

The data used to produce the statistics are to be collected by means of surveys, statistical estimation procedures or referral to administrative or other sources. Unless they generate large amounts of waste, firms with fewer than 10 employees are excluded from surveys.

Transmission of statistics to Eurostat

EU countries must transmit the statistical results (including confidential data) to Eurostat within 18 months of the end of the reference periods laid down in Annexes I and II. The frequency is biennial.

The Commission is able to adopt measures necessary for applying or amending the regulation. These measures relate to:

the appropriate format for the transmission of results by EU countries;
adjustment to economic and technical developments in the gathering, processing and communication of statistics;
the adaptation of the specifications listed in Annexes I, II and III;
the formulation of proper quality assessment criteria;
the implementation of the results of pilot studies.

Reports

Every 3 years, the Commission reports to the European Parliament and Council on the statistics prepared under this regulation, their quality and the burden on businesses.

FROM WHEN DOES THIS REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 29 December 2002.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

‘Waste statistics’ on Eurostat's website
‘Environmental Data Centre on Waste’ on Eurostat's website
‘Waste’’ on the European Commission's website

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2002 on waste statistics (OJ L 332, 9.12.2002, pp. 1–36)

Subsequent amendments to Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.