Mexican Hazardous Waste
Generator
Instructions
for Generators Seeking to Export Hazardous Waste
The
information provided here is a general description of the obligations
of exporters of hazardous waste to the United States for recycling
or disposal.
In
the United States, hazardous waste can only be imported, transported
and disposed of by companies registered with the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). When a US company is registered to import,
transport, or dispose of hazardous waste, it receives an EPA identification
number. It is recommended that this number be verified to ensure
that the company is registered.
Under
Mexican law, hazardous waste generators are responsible for management
and final disposal thereof. If they retain the services of a company
for management and/or disposal, they must verify that the company
holds the necessary Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources
(Semarnat) authorizations.
Applicable
law:
Hazardous
waste generators, exporters, and managers seeking to export materials
to the United States must comply with the following Mexican provisions:
- Ley
General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente (General Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection Act; LGEEPA),
Article 153.
- Regulation
to the LGEEPA respecting Hazardous Waste, chapter IV,
Articles 43–57.
- Ley General Para la
Prevención y Gestión Integral de Residuos
(Uniform Waste Prevention and Management Act),
ch. VII, Articles 85–94.
- Mexican
Official Standard NOM-052-Semarnat-1993. Characteristics
of hazardous wastes and the list thereof as well as the threshold
above which a waste is considered hazardous due to its toxicity
in the environment.
- Mexican
Official Standard NOM-053-Semarnat-1993.
Extractive testing procedure for determining the constituents
making a waste hazardous due to its toxicity in the environment.
- Decision announcing
the filings recorded in the Federal Registry of Company Filings
(Registro Federal de Trámites Empresariales) applied
by the Ministry of the Environment, Natural Resources, and Fisheries
and its decentralized administrative bodies and establishing various
regulatory improvement measures (Diario Oficial de la Federation,
21 February 2000).
- Decision establishing
the classification and codification of goods whose import and
export are subject to regulation by the Ministry of the Environment
and Natural Resources (Diario
Oficial de la Federación, 29
March 2002).
- Decision announcing
the filings and services recorded in the Federal Registry of Filings
and Services (Registro Federal de Trámites y Servicios)
applied by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources
(Diario Oficial de la Federación, 29 May 2003).
- Basel Convention on
the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and
their Disposal.
- Decision
C(2001)107/Final of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD).
- Annex
III to the Agreement between the United States of America
and the United Mexican States for the Protection and Improvement
of the Environment in the Border Area, “Agreement of Cooperation
Regarding the Transboundary Shipment of Hazardous Wastes and Hazardous
Substances.”
Authorization
to Export Hazardous Materials and Wastes
Physical
or legal persons who are generators or service providers and seek
to export hazardous waste for treatment or final disposal must obtain
this Semarnat authorization.
There
are different procedures for obtaining this authorization depending
on whether the exporter is a first-time or repeat exporter.
Requirements:
The
following documents must be filed by the exporter with the single-window
office of the Integrated Service Center (Ventanilla Única de
Trámites del Centro Integral de Servicios—CIS) of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources
(Semarnat) before making the shipment.
1. File a general
registration sheet. First-time applicants must include the following
attachments:
- Original receipt of
payment of duties with Ministry of the Treasury and Public Credit
(SHCP).
- Document attesting
to the activity.
- Locator sketch.
- Letter on official
company letterhead authorizing the manager or promoter, or power
of attorney for legal representative if the latter physically
makes the filing.
2. Submit hazardous
waste export manifest. The filing of the manifest is deemed to be
the application for authorization to export hazardous waste.
- Original must be signed.
- One manifest for each
type of hazardous waste and for each storage site from which the
waste will depart.
- For first-time and
subsequent procedures.
3. Proof of domicile
of the exporting company:
- Must
be legible.
- For first-time exporters.
- For subsequent procedures
where there is a change in the site from which the waste departs
or the generator of the waste, and also where the exporter changes
its name or domicile.
4. Locator sketch
of the company where the waste is stored, including streets, adjacent
lots, and location of the lot:
- Must be legible.
- For first-time exporters.
- For subsequent procedures
where there is a change in the site from which the waste departs
or where the generator changes.
5. Sketch of the route
to be followed from the loading point to the customs exit point
(land or maritime), indicating the main localities through which
the shipment will pass:
- Must be legible.
- For first-time exporters.
- For subsequent procedures
where the route or exit point changes.
6. Transporter’s valid
civil liability insurance policy covering damage to third parties
and the environment during transportation; where the company holds
a similar policy, this may be deemed valid by Semarnat for the purposes
of this obligation:
- Copy of policy.
- Normally for each
transportation unit.
- Must be in the name
of the transportation company or indicate the name of the exporting
company.
- Where the copy of
the policy in the company’s file expires, a complete copy of a
new policy must be filed.
- For first-time exporters.
- For subsequent procedures
where there is a change of transportation company or inclusion
of another transporter in the authorization.
7. Emergency preparedness
plan for spills during loading, transit, and unloading, for each
type of incident:
- For first-time exporters.
8. OECD and/or Basel
Convention notification forms provided by Semarnat:
- For
first-time exporters.
- For subsequent procedures
where importing country’s consent has been revoked or has expired
or where the limit on the quantity of exportable hazardous wastes
has been reached.
9. Letter of acceptance
of the waste by the importing company:
- For first-time exporters.
- For subsequent procedures
where the foreign recipient facilities change.
10. Performance
bond guaranteeing compliance with the authorization in an amount
of $2,500 pesos per ton of waste to be exported (this information
to be updated annually):
- For first-time exporters,
original must be filed.
- For subsequent procedures,
a copy must be filed if the bond is still valid. If not, a new
original bond must be filed or the old one must be renewed.
11.
Original receipt of duties paid:
Administrative
procedure:
- Semarnat
has 2 working days from receipt of the application to request
any missing information from the interested party.
- The
applicant has 15 working days to provide the missing information.
If it fails to provide this additional information within the
prescribed period, Semarnat considers the application to be nonexistent.
- Semarnat
must issue a decision within the 5 working days following receipt
of the consent of the receiving country.
- Where
Semarnat fails to respond within the prescribed period, the application
is deemed to have been rejected.
- Hazardous
waste exports are only authorized where there is written consent
of the destination and transit countries involved in the transboundary
movement.
- The
validity of the authorization is 90 calendar days.
- All
schedules or attachments must be updated annually.
- Where
Semarnat approves the shipment, it shall provide the interested
party with an authorization indicating the quantity, waste characteristics,
exit route, and customs point or points through which the waste
is to be exported.
Further
information and inquiries:
Other
activities to be carried out by the exporter:
Contact
a US treatment, storage, or disposal facility (TSDF) to receive
the hazardous waste. The TSDF must have an EPA identification number
and have the capacity to manage the type of waste in question. Not
all TSDFs handle all types of waste. The TSDF must give four weeks
written notice to the EPA in advance of the shipment for all imported
hazardous wastes.
Transport
the wastes to the border for importation into the United States.
Transporters on both sides of the border and importers must comply
with various rules.
Provide
information on the wastes to the importer since the latter must
complete a Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest and description of the
wastes for the US Department of Transport (DOT), the containers,
the quantities to be imported, etc. (further information
about this manifest).
Once
the waste is sent, the Mexican generator must notify Semarnat of
the actual shipping date.
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