IMPEL TFS participates in panel discussion on illegal export waste vehicles
A representative of the the Transfrontier Shipments of Waste cluster (TFS) of the IMPEL network, participated in a panel discussion on the illegal export of waste vehicles or end-of-life vehicles, at the 13th International Automobile Recycling Congress (IARC), 13-15 March in Brussels.
At the IARC delegates from industry, authorities and academia discussed and presented news and challenges of the manufacturing and end-of-life vehicle (ELV) business. The congress brought together the various links in the ELV recycling chain such as car manufacturers, metal and plastic scrap traders, recyclers, shredder operators and policy-makers from around the world.
During the discussion with the title,“Phasing out criminal export”, the panel members discussed statements as:
- “Fake export is common praxis”
- “Export of used cars should have a MOT certificate”
- “Export of used cars should be taxed”.
INTERPOL suggesgest to carry our more in-depth studies in order o get an insight in the size of the illegal export, as complete data and analysis are currently lacking. IMPEL TFS agreed with the statement that all used cars destined for export should have a MOT certificate, as this helps with the distinction between was versus non-waste. The representative of the European Vehicle and Driver Registration Authorities (EReg) stated that no supplementary MOT tests or administrative deregistration are necessary, since there is a full (de-)registration system in in place in the EU, allowing all cars to be tracked at any moment. The Director-General of the the European Commission/DG Environment stressed the need for a “cultural change” within the environmental inspectorates and especially with customs, who “are mainly interested in inspecting import – because of taxes, and are less interested in export”. He admitted that this cultural change will be a long term process.