Page 220 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

maJ. gen. enzo Bernardini

The joint action, inspired by shared principles already enunciated by many
European directives, showed how it could have been more effective if the ope-
rations had been conducted more homogeneously.

The overall results of the Joint Police Operation Waste Trafficking are
undoubtedly important for the creation of a supranational awareness that must
be oriented to the standardization of control techniques, even if implemented in
different legal systems. Moreover, it emerged as self-evident how the optimiza-
tion of the techniques requires unambiguous waste-coding procedures in order
to avert more sophisticated forms of illegal disposal, such as waste fraudulently
coded as second-hand materials. In this regard, the fundamental principle for a
common action is surely to implement a waste tracking procedure in order to
create a common monitoring system aimed to minimize the risk that the waste
could be dispersed in the environment or recovered/disposed improperly.

Bearing in mind the interest of organized crime groups in the environmen-
tal sector and because of its overall attractiveness, it is important to continue the
path started by the Joint Police Operation to define common methods of inter-
vention specific for each stage of the management activities and basing on:

- a preliminary assessment on companies and stakeholders in the sector;
- monitoring all stages of the natural cycle followed by waste (produc-
tion, transport and the final destination).
When it comes to the analytical documentation, the main difficulty
encountered by operators is the timely response of the authenticity. Only a
careful tracking (by binding documentation or by computer system) can avoid
the common and widespread fictitious codification of waste. This criminal
codification, along with the falsification of transport documents, allows to
reuse fraudulently waste in other cycles, reducing disposal costs.
Moreover, the illicit waste trafficking may be indirectly facilitated by the
principle of free movement of goods. As a result, the standardization of pro-
cedures is even more necessary. These results are also a strong confirmation of
what has been foreseen by the most recent EU Regulations.
In conclusion, the results of the Joint Police Operation on Waste
Trafficking are to be considered really impressive in terms of the awareness raised
on the specific issue of environmental crime, namely, the illicit-waste trafficking.

218