Pre-consent of waste recovery facilities
Pre-consent
The Finnish Environment Institute may grant a pre-approval consent to a waste recovery facility located in Finland for receiving waste from another EU country or an OECD country.
The pre-approval consent shall be valid for a fixed term and it may be granted for a maximum of 10 years. A pre-approval consent shall not be granted for the interim recovery of waste or for experimental activitiees.
A pre-consent may be granted if:
- the operator has an environmental permit for recovery operations in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act;
- the operator has sufficient expertise in international shipments of waste;
- the operator has an environmental management system in accordance with the EMAS Regulation (EC) No. 1221/2009 or another equivalent system; and
- in previous international shipments of waste, the operator has fulfilled its obligations under the Waste Act, the regulation on shipments of waste and the Environmental Protection Act.
Impact of pre-consent on the notification procedure
The differences compared to the normal reporting procedure are as follows:
- The shortened decision-making time, i.e. the decision on the waste shipment notification, must be made within seven working days of the date of acknowledgement of receipt.
- A waste shipment permit may be issued for three years if the authorities of all the countries involved in the waste shipment agree to this.
How to apply for pre-consent
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Apply for pre-consent using the form
Fill in the application form for pre-consent
Include at least the following information in the pre-consent application:
- name and registration number of the establishment facility (business ID)
- contact information (address, phone number, fax number)
- contact information (phone number, email address)
- a copy of the valid environmental permit
- a copy of the EMAS certificate issued in accordance with EU Regulation 1221/2009 or a certificate of an equivalent environmental management system;
- a description of imported waste to which the pre-consent applies (form, impurities, material range, etc.);
- waste classification in accordance with the Waste Decree (978/2021) (LoW code)
- waste classification according to Annexes IV and IVA of the EU regulation 1013/2006 on shipments of waste
- a description of the recovery technique(s) used
- recovery codes listed in the Waste Decree (978/2021) (R code)
- the total amount of waste recovered each year in the facility, the quantities of different waste fractions and the proportion of such waste to be imported from abroad
- the period for which pre-approval is sought;
- waste reception process, e.g. whether waste is analysed and what kind of
- an account of the problems encountered in previous shipments of waste in which the company has been involved and how they have been resolved
- a copy of a trade register extract.
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Preliminary check of the pre-consent application
Before submitting an application for pre-consent, contact the Finnish Environment Institute for a preliminary check of the application.
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Submit the application
After the preliminary check, send the signed application and its annexes by post to the following address:
Finnish Environment Institute / transfrontier waste shipment
Latokartanonkaari 11
00790 Helsinkior
electronically signed application with annexes to
wasteshipments(at)syke.fi
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Processing of the application and facility inspection
The processing of the application takes approximately one month from the date of checking and approval of the application. A facility inspection is carried out during processing.
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A fee is charged for processing an application
The Finnish Environment Institute charges a fee for processing an application for pre-consent in accordance with a decree of the Ministry of the Environment (No. 180/2022).
Payment table 1 April 2022 - 30 April 2024 (in Finnish, Swedish and English) (pdf, 145 KB) -
Decision on pre-consent
The Finnish Environment Institute will make a decision on pre-consent once all necessary information has been received.
Information on pre-consent is also communicated to the OECD Secretariat.
Contacts for additional information
The Finnish Environment Institute is the competent authority for transfrontier waste shipments in Finland. For questions related to transfrontier waste shipments, please contact wasteshipments@syke.fi.
Other contact details are available on the Contact persons and information for waste shipments page.
More information
Pre-consented facilities are listed on the OECD database on Transboundary Movement of Waste available at the OECD web page: The OECD Control System for waste recovery
Pre-consent is regulated by the Waste Shipment Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006, Article 14, the Waste Act (646/2011) section 114 and the Waste decree (978/2021) section 49.
Consolidated Waste Shipment Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 (EUR-Lex)