For decades, moving waste across EU borders meant generating stacks of physical documents, printing Annex VII forms, chasing signatures from competent authorities in multiple countries, and hoping nothing got lost between a recycling facility in Poland and a processor in Germany. That system was slow, inconsistent, and wide open to abuse.
On 21 May 2026, the European Commission activated DIWASS, the Digital Waste Shipment System. From that date forward, all new waste shipment procedures within the EU must go through this centralised digital platform. The paper era is over, at least for notifications subject to the Prior Informed Consent procedure and for green-listed waste traded under Annex VII.
What does the system actually do?
DIWASS is a centralised hub operated by the European Commission. It connects national platforms and commercial software used by waste operators across all 27 member states. Carriers, consignees, notifiers and recovery facilities all feed data into the same system, and competent authorities can see the entire process in real time.
The shift matters for a simple reason. When waste movements are tracked digitally and authorities have live visibility of shipments, illegal exports become considerably harder to disguise. The Commission has been explicit about this: the system is designed to facilitate legal cross-border recycling while tightening monitoring of exports to third countries.
There is still a paper exception, but it is temporary
One category of documents, the Annex VII forms covering green-listed waste, will continue to circulate in paper format until the end of 2026. This was a pragmatic concession. The Expert Group on Waste flagged in March that connecting all local systems and national platforms to DIWASS before 21 May was not going to be technically possible for every member state. The Commission acknowledged the concern and set 31 December 2026 as the deadline for full digital handling of Annex VII documents.
Broader circular economy picture
The revised Waste Shipment Regulation, which DIWASS is built to enforce, was adopted on 11 April 2024. Its stated purpose goes beyond tidying up paperwork. According to the European Commission, the regulation is designed to improve the traceability and availability of secondary raw materials across the EU, which directly reduces European dependence on imported primary materials from outside the bloc.
In other words, knowing where waste goes and what happens to it is not an administrative concern. It is a raw material strategy.
