Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the management of waste from extractive industries and amending Directive 2004/35/EC^f1, and in particular Article 22(1)(f) thereof,

Whereas:

Article 3(3) of Directive 2006/21/EC provides for a definition of inert waste.

The purpose of complementing the definition of inert waste is to establish clear criteria and conditions under which waste from extractive industries can be considered as inert waste.

To minimise the administrative burden linked with the implementation of this Decision, it is appropriate from a technical point of view to exempt from specific testing those wastes for which existing relevant information is available, and to allow Member States to establish lists of waste material which could be considered as inert in accordance with the criteria set out in the present Decision.

In order to ensure the quality and the representativity of the information used, this Decision should be applied in the framework of the waste characterisation carried out in accordance with Commission Decision 2009/360/EC^f2 and should be based on the same sources of information.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 18 of Directive 2006/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^f3,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: