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Establishment of a Waste Management

Establishment of a Waste Management Agency
On 22 November 2015, the Prime Minister issued a decision establishing the Waste Management Agency (the “Agency”);[1] a new public agency under the Ministry of Environment designed to regulate all matters relating to the management of waste. The importance of the decision is that it concentrates most of the regulatory power related to waste and hazardous waste in the hands the Agency. This replaces a system in which such power was scattered across several relevant ministries, as well the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (“EEAA”).
Centralizing the Waste Disposal Licensing
The most important change introduced by the creation of the Agency is that environmental safeguards related to waste management and waste disposal have now mostly been centralized. The recent Prime Minister Decision that created the Agency also introduced several amendments to the Executive Regulations of the Environment Law. For instance, the Executive Regulations previously prohibited any entity from dealing with or disposing of hazardous and dangerous waste without proper license. According to the original phrasing in the Executive Regulations, the entity responsible for granting such license changed in accordance with the type of hazardous waste being disposed. For instance, this meant that, when dealing with agricultural dangerous or hazardous waste that, the relevant entity had to obtain a license from the Ministry of Agriculture. If such waste was industrial in nature, the permit had to be obtained from the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade. In addition to granting the license, each ministry or relevant authority was responsible for devising separate rules and standards for the disposal of waste, to correspond with the specific nature of that type of waste. Such rules were to be determined in consultation with the EEAA and the Minister of Health. The recent amendments stipulated that the new Waste Management Agency will “replace the EEAA and the relevant authority” in the implementation of several articles of the Executive Regulations of the Environment Law. Such articles include the articles related to hazardous waste disposal permits. Formally, this means that the new Agency will be liable for granting licenses and developing rules and standards for all types of waste. However, this remains somehow uncertain, since the mandate of the new Agency (as determined by the recent decision) does not include the granting of permits or licenses. It is thus unclear whether, in practice, the new Agency will truly replace all relevant ministries as licensor, or whether its role will be mainly to facilitate the production of such licenses.
Powers of the Waste Management Agency
The new Agency is mandated with the regulation and oversight of waste management on the central and local level. In doing so, it will also cooperate with other countries as well as international organizations in order to determine relevant legal procedures for the accession to waste-related international agreements, and to attract investment in the collection, treatment and safe disposal of waste. The Agency’s role and mandate are defined in the new decree. Much of it can be described as advisory or research-related tasks. This includes reviewing and suggesting legal amendments to the framework regulating waste management, providing relevant information statistics and studies, producing manuals, etc. However, the new Agency has also been given some regulatory functions, such as preparation of relevant rules and standards for contracting with different types of waste management services, approving technology used for management and recycling and monitoring and overseeing entities licensed to perform services related to waste management and disposal.
Conclusion
Establishing an agency to deal exclusively with waste management is a positive step. However, some important points still need to be clarified, especially the question of which authority will be liable for issuing permits and licenses for the disposal of hazardous waste. Is this authority vested in the newly created agency, or will the relevant ministries still be responsible for issuing these permits? If this remains vague, it threatens to confuse relevant entities from the private sector and cause the duplication of regulatory efforts.   [1] Prime Minister's Decree No. 3005/2015 establishing the Waste Management Agency, Official Gazette, Issue No. 47 (bis)(c), 22 November 2015.
On 22 November 2015, the Prime Minister issued a decision establishing the Waste Management Agency (the “Agency”);[1] a new public agency under the Ministry of Environment designed to regulate all matters relating to the management of waste. The importance of the decision is that it concentrates most of the regulatory power related to waste and hazardous waste in the hands the Agency. This replaces a system in which such power was scattered across several relevant ministries, as well the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (“EEAA”).
Centralizing the Waste Disposal Licensing
The most important change introduced by the creation of the Agency is that environmental safeguards related to waste management and waste disposal have now mostly been centralized. The recent Prime Minister Decision that created the Agency also introduced several amendments to the Executive Regulations of the Environment Law. For instance, the Executive Regulations previously prohibited any entity from dealing with or disposing of hazardous and dangerous waste without proper license. According to the original phrasing in the Executive Regulations, the entity responsible for granting such license changed in accordance with the type of hazardous waste being disposed. For instance, this meant that, when dealing with agricultural dangerous or hazardous waste that, the relevant entity had to obtain a license from the Ministry of Agriculture. If such waste was industrial in nature, the permit had to be obtained from the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade. In addition to granting the license, each ministry or relevant authority was responsible for devising separate rules and standards for the disposal of waste, to correspond with the specific nature of that type of waste. Such rules were to be determined in consultation with the EEAA and the Minister of Health. The recent amendments stipulated that the new Waste Management Agency will “replace the EEAA and the relevant authority” in the implementation of several articles of the Executive Regulations of the Environment Law. Such articles include the articles related to hazardous waste disposal permits. Formally, this means that the new Agency will be liable for granting licenses and developing rules and standards for all types of waste. However, this remains somehow uncertain, since the mandate of the new Agency (as determined by the recent decision) does not include the granting of permits or licenses. It is thus unclear whether, in practice, the new Agency will truly replace all relevant ministries as licensor, or whether its role will be mainly to facilitate the production of such licenses.
Powers of the Waste Management Agency
The new Agency is mandated with the regulation and oversight of waste management on the central and local level. In doing so, it will also cooperate with other countries as well as international organizations in order to determine relevant legal procedures for the accession to waste-related international agreements, and to attract investment in the collection, treatment and safe disposal of waste. The Agency’s role and mandate are defined in the new decree. Much of it can be described as advisory or research-related tasks. This includes reviewing and suggesting legal amendments to the framework regulating waste management, providing relevant information statistics and studies, producing manuals, etc. However, the new Agency has also been given some regulatory functions, such as preparation of relevant rules and standards for contracting with different types of waste management services, approving technology used for management and recycling and monitoring and overseeing entities licensed to perform services related to waste management and disposal.
Conclusion
Establishing an agency to deal exclusively with waste management is a positive step. However, some important points still need to be clarified, especially the question of which authority will be liable for issuing permits and licenses for the disposal of hazardous waste. Is this authority vested in the newly created agency, or will the relevant ministries still be responsible for issuing these permits? If this remains vague, it threatens to confuse relevant entities from the private sector and cause the duplication of regulatory efforts.   [1] Prime Minister's Decree No. 3005/2015 establishing the Waste Management Agency, Official Gazette, Issue No. 47 (bis)(c), 22 November 2015.