EU enforcement authorities meet in Brussels to step up action against illicit waste trade

© EU The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) organised the second meeting of the Waste Shipment Enforcement Group (WSEG) today in Brussels, co-chaired with Dublin City Council Waste Regulation & Enforcement. The meeting brought together enforcement authorities from across the EU and beyond with the aim to fight more effectively against the cross-border illicit waste trade, as set out in the Waste Shipment Regulation.

The WSEG, created in 2025, is a permanent platform through which national authorities share intelligence, best practices and operational strategies, so that they can better respond to the constantly evolving cross-border patterns and methods used in the illicit waste trade. Detecting and disrupting an illicit waste trade scheme requires the expertise and active involvement of the environmental authorities, the customs, the police and the judiciary. Since the group’s first meeting in Warsaw last year, cooperation between the authorities tackling illicit waste trade has become closer and more effective, especially on detection.

At the meeting, participants discussed upcoming challenges, including the potential impact on the fraud schemes of the new ban on exporting plastic waste to non-OECD countries, which kicks in this November. Other important topics were the difficulty of classifying and controlling waste, distinguishing between end-of-waste and by-products, and the repatriation of illicit waste.