Information for Exporters of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Hazardous Waste

Exporters must provide notification in English to EPA at least 60 days before the first shipment of hazardous waste is expected to leave the United States. Notifications must be submitted electronically using EPA's Waste Import Export Tracking System (WIETS). Exporters may access WIETS through EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX).

The notification can cover up to one year of shipments of hazardous wastes being sent to the same recovery or disposal facility and must include the information outlined in 40 CFR section 262.83(b), which includes:

• Exporter’s name, EPA identification number, address, telephone number, fax numbers, and email address;
• Foreign receiving facility name, address, telephone number, fax numbers, and e-mail address;
• Foreign importer name (if not the owner or operator of the foreign receiving facility), address, telephone number, fax numbers, and e-mail address;
• Intended transporter(s) and/or their agent(s); address, telephone number, fax, and e-mail address;
• Country competent authority information and ports to be used for country of import and any countries of transit (Refer to 40 CFR section 262.83(b)(1)(vi)-(vii));
• Statement of whether notification covers a single shipment or multiple shipments;
• Requested Start and End Dates for shipments;
• Description of each hazardous waste being shipped, including:
  • whether the waste is regulated universal waste, spent lead-acid batteries being exported for recovery of lead, or industrial ethyl alcohol being exported for reclamation;
  • the estimated total quantity of each waste and associated units of measurement for each quantity;
  • the applicable RCRA waste code(s) for each hazardous waste;
  • the applicable OECD waste code from the list incorporated by reference in 40 CFR section 260.11; and
  • the United Nations/U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) ID number for each waste (as identified in 49 CFR Part 172).
• Specification of the recovery or disposal operation(s) as defined in 40 CFR section 262.81. For notifications listing interim recycling operations or interim disposal operations, the notification must also include information about the final foreign recovery or disposal facility as described in 40 CFR section 262.83(b)(3);
• Certification/Declaration signed by the exporter that states: I certify that the above information is complete and correct to the best of my knowledge. I also certify that legally enforceable written contractual obligations have been entered into and that any applicable insurance or other financial guarantee is or shall be in force covering the transboundary movement.

OECD countries may pre-consent recycling facilities to receive imports of one or more amber list wastes from other OECD member countries for recycling. Those OECD countries doing so inform the OECD Secretariat of the recovery facility's name and address, technologies employed, waste types to which the pre-consent applies, and the time period covered by the pre-consent. These pre-consented facilities are listed on the OECD website specific to the OECD Council Decision C(2001)107/FINAL as amended. 

When the destination facility for a proposed export has been pre-consented to receive that hazardous waste from exporters in other OECD countries, the exporter must notify EPA at least ten days in advance of the desired initial export shipment, and the notice may cover up to three years of shipments to the pre-consented facility (40 CFR section 262.83(b)(2)).

• Learn more about export notification requirements.

Acknowledgement of Consent

Once EPA receives a complete notification, it will forward the notification to the country of import and any countries of transit. If all countries consent to the shipment, EPA will issue an Acknowledgement of Consent (AOC) letter to the U.S. exporter to document the required consents (Refer to 40 CFR section 262.83(b)(6)). Exports may not proceed until EPA issues an Acknowledgement of Consent letter to the exporter. If the importing country or any transit countries object to receipt of the hazardous waste or withdraws a prior consent, EPA will notify the exporter in writing, and export shipments may not occur until the countries withdraw their objection or consent to a corrected notification. If any of the information listed in the notice needs to be changed, the exporter must submit a notification reflecting the desired changes and obtain a new AOC prior to making any shipment using the requested changes.

Submission of Electronic Export Information (EEI)

Because EPA’s Acknowledgement of Consent letter is equivalent to an export license, exporters, or their U.S. authorized agents, must submit Electronic Export Information (EEI) for each shipment to the Automated Export System (AES) (15 CFR 30.2(a)(iv)(F)). The AES resides in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) under the International Trade Data System. For more information, go to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Automated Export System Technical Information Web page.

At this time, exporters must comply with the electronic border process (40 CFR section 262.83(a)(6)(i)). To do so, the exporter, or their U.S. authorized agent, must submit the following items for each EEI shipment, along with the other information required under 15 CFR section 30.6:

1. EPA license code;
2. Commodity classification code for each hazardous waste per 15 CFR section 30.6(a)(12);
3. EPA consent number for each hazardous waste;
4. Country of ultimate destination code per 15 CFR section 30.6(a)(5);
5. Date of export per 15 CFR section 30.6(a)(2);
6. For RCRA manifested shipments, the RCRA hazardous waste manifest tracking number listed in item 4 of the manifest;
7. Quantity of each hazardous waste in shipment and units for reported quantity, if required reporting units established by value for the reported commodity classification number are in units of weight or volume per 15 CFR section 30.6(a)(15); or
8. EPA net quantity for each hazardous waste reported in units of kilograms if solid or in units of liters if liquid, if required reporting units established by value for the reported commodity classification number are not in units of weight or volume.

RCRA Manifest

The exporter must comply with the manifesting requirements (40 CFR Part 262, Subpart B) and the special manifest provisions for exporters in 40 CFR section 262.83(c), including:

• In place of the name, site address and EPA ID number of the designated permitted facility, the exporter must include the name and site address of the foreign receiving facility.
• In the International Shipments block of the manifest, the exporter must check the export box and enter the point of exit (City and State) from the United States; and
• The exporter must list the waste stream consent number from the AOC for each hazardous waste listed on the manifest, matched to the relevant list number for the hazardous waste from block 9b.

The e-Manifest system does not include export manifests at this time, so export manifests must be paper.

In addition to initiating the manifest, the exporter must send an international movement document with the shipment.

• Learn more about export manifest requirements.

International Movement Document

Exporters must ensure that a movement document accompanies each transboundary movement of hazardous waste from the initiation of the shipment until it reaches the foreign receiving facility. The international movement document must include all of the information required in 40 CFR section 262.83(d)(2), including:

• The corresponding consent number(s) and hazardous waste number(s) for the listed hazardous waste from the relevant EPA Acknowledgement of Consent(s) (AOCs);
• The shipment number and the total number of shipments from the EPA AOC;
• Exporter name and EPA identification number, address, telephone, fax numbers, and e-mail address;
• Foreign receiving facility name, address, telephone, fax numbers, e-mail address, technologies employed, and the applicable recovery or disposal operations as defined in 40 CFR section 262.81;
• Foreign importer name (if not the owner or operator of the foreign receiving facility), address, telephone, fax numbers, and e-mail address;
• Description(s) of each hazardous waste, quantity of each hazardous waste in the shipment, applicable RCRA hazardous waste code(s) for each hazardous waste, applicable OECD waste code for each hazardous waste from the list incorporated by reference in 40 CFR section 260.11, and the United Nations/U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) ID number for each hazardous waste;
• Date movement commenced;
• Name (if not exporter), address, telephone, fax numbers, and e-mail of company originating the shipment;
• Company name, EPA ID number, address, telephone, fax, and e-mail address of all transporters;
• Identification (license, registered name or registration number) of means of transport, including types of packaging;
• Any special precautions to be taken by transporter(s);
• Certification/declaration signed and dated by the exporter that the information in the movement document is complete and correct;
• Appropriate signatures for each custody transfer (e.g., transporter, importer, and owner or operator of the foreign receiving facility);

Each person in the United States who handles the waste shipment must sign the international movement document.

Use of the widely accepted OECD/Basel international movement document, or any other movement document required by the country of import is acceptable provided that all the required information can be included on the movement document. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) confirmed in 2015 that use of the Canadian movement document is required, and Mexico’s Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT) confirmed in Spring 2016 that they would prefer to use of the Mexican tracking document to minimize the number of tracking documents accompanying each shipment. Use of the Canadian movement document or Mexican tracking document is acceptable to EPA so long as all required items in 40 CFR section 262.83(d) are included.

As part of the contract requirements described above, the exporter must require that the foreign receiving facility send a copy of the signed movement document to confirm receipt within three working days of shipment delivery to the exporter, and to the competent authorities of the countries of import and transit. The exporter must additionally require that the foreign receiving facility send a copy electronically to EPA using EPA’s WIETS for shipments occurring on or after the electronic import-export reporting compliance date that will be established by EPA in a future Federal Register notice.

Confirmation of Receipt

Exporters must require that the foreign receiving facility send a copy of the signed international movement document to confirm receipt within three working days of shipment delivery to the exporter, to the competent authorities of the countries of import and transit. The exporter must additionally require that the foreign receiving facility send a copy electronically to EPA using EPA’s WIETS for shipments occurring on or after the electronic import-export reporting compliance date that EPA will establish in a future Federal Register notice. Receipt of this signed international movement document serves as confirmation of receipt of the hazardous waste shipment (Refer to 40 CFR section 262.83(d)(2)(xv)).

Exception Report

Exporters must file an exception report with EPA’s Office of Compliance and Enforcement if any of the following occurs:

• For manifested shipments, the exporter does not receive a copy of the RCRA manifest signed by the transporter within 45 days from the date it was accepted by the initial transporter; or
• The exporter does not receive written confirmation from the foreign receiving facility that the shipment was received within 90 days from the date the waste was accepted by the initial transporter; or
• The foreign receiving facility notifies the exporter, or the country of import notifies EPA, of the need to return the shipment to the U.S. or arrange alternate management. In this case, the exporter must file an exception report within 30 days of notification, or one day prior to the date the return shipment commences, whichever is sooner.

When filling out this report, the exporter should follow the applicable guidelines for domestic exceptions (Refer to 40 CFR section 262.42), but must send the exception report to EPA. Prior to the electronic import-export reporting compliance date that EPA will establish in a future Federal Register notice, the exporter should send a hardcopy exception report to  EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) at the address specified below (Refer to 40 CFR section 262.83(h)) or email a PDF copy of the exception report to [email protected].

Mail hardcopy exception reports to:

Office of Land and Emergency Management
Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery
Materials Recovery and Waste Management Division
International Branch (Mail Code 2255A)
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
Washington, DC 20460

After the conversion to electronic reporting, exception reports must be submitted electronically to EPA using EPA's Waste Import Export Tracking System (WIETS).

Confirmation of Recovery or Disposal

Under contract requirements, foreign receiving facilities must be required to send a copy of the signed and dated confirmation of recovery or disposal to the exporter and to the competent authority of the country of import, as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days after completing recovery or disposal of the waste in the shipment and no later than one calendar year following receipt of the waste. For contracts that will be in effect on or after the electronic import-export reporting compliance date that EPA will establish in a future Federal Register notice, the contracts must additionally specify that the foreign receiving facility send a copy to EPA electronically at the same time using EPA’s WIETS (Refer to 40 CFR section 262.83(f)(5))).

Annual Report

Exporters must submit an annual report to EPA by March 1 of each year (40 CFR section 262.83(g)). This report summarizes the type, quantity, frequency, and ultimate destination of all hazardous waste exported during the previous calendar year. For the specific information required in the annual report, refer to 40 CFR section 262.83(g)(1)-(6).

Exporters must submit annual reports electronically to EPA using EPA’s WIETS for all export shipments made the previous calendar year. If an exporter does not ship any hazardous waste after having obtained consent to export certain hazardous wastes, the exporter should submit an export annual report noting that the quantity shipped under the issued consent(s) was zero.

•  View slides that describe the process for creating and submitting Hazardous Waste Annual Reports in WIETS

Recordkeeping