DIWASS and Annex VII: what changes for your waste shipments?

24 October 20265 min read

What is DIWASS?

DIWASS stands for Digital Waste Shipment System: the European Commission's central digital system for requesting, tracking and completing waste shipments between EU countries. It is part of the revised European regulation on shipments of waste (Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, also known as the Waste Shipment Regulation or WSR).

Instead of paper forms and separate national systems, documents and notifications go into one shared system. DIWASS collects the required documents, forwards notifications to the authorities involved, tracks the status of every shipment and makes sure all parties see the same information.

Who has to use it?

Since 21 May 2026, both the competent EU authorities and companies (economic operators) have to use DIWASS for notifications and the related movement documents, whenever an EU Member State is the country of dispatch, destination or transit.

Every party involved has to be registered: whoever arranges the shipment, the waste producer, carriers, consignees and waste receiving facilities. Only registered parties are visible and selectable in the system; details of companies or authorities cannot be entered manually.

What is Annex VII?

Not every waste shipment requires prior notification. For green-listed waste destined for recovery, a lighter regime applies: no prior consent, but an Annex VII document that accompanies the shipment. The form is officially titled Information accompanying shipments of waste. It also applies to waste sent to a laboratory for analysis or experimental treatment trials.

The document is completed and signed by several parties along the way. The current form, with 15 blocks, includes:

Who does what: the person arranging the shipment, the waste producer, the consignee and up to three carriers, each with means of transport, date of transfer and signature.
The waste: description, quantity in tonnes or m³, date of shipment, recovery operation (R or D code) and codes such as Basel, OECD, Annex IIIA or IIIB and the European list of wastes.
The route: countries of dispatch, transit and destination, and the recovery facility.
A declaration by the person arranging the shipment and the producer that the information is complete and correct and that an effective written contract with the consignee exists.
Confirmations afterwards: receipt by the consignee, receipt at the recovery facility with the quantity received, and a certification that recovery has been completed.

In DIWASS these documents are drawn up and submitted digitally, and carriers, consignees and receiving facilities complete their part digitally as well.

What changes on 1 January 2027?

Annex VII is one step behind the rest of DIWASS. On 21 May 2026, use became mandatory for notifications and movement documents, but for Annex VII digital use was only possible. The European Commission points to challenges with the interconnection between the central system and local systems and lets Annex VII documents run mainly on paper until 31 December 2026 inclusive.

2 July 2025Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1290 sets the technical requirements.
January 2026The technical API documentation is published (last updated on 31 March 2026).
21 May 2026DIWASS is mandatory for notifications and movement documents. Annex VII can already be digital, but doesn't have to be.
21 May to 31 December 2026Annex VII stays on paper in practice.
1 January 2027End of the paper transition period: Annex VII documents are then expected to run digitally.
2027The Commission starts publishing information on shipments subject to the general information requirements.

Good to know: the Commission's page only names 31 December 2026 as the end of the paper period. 1 January 2027 as the new start date follows from that and is also stated by German sources (BKV, referring to a transition period lasting until 31 December 2026 inclusive). That transition period has already slipped once, and not every source is equally precise on Annex VII. This is the situation as of 24 October 2026: check the current position with the Commission or your competent authority.

How do you connect to DIWASS?

There are two routes:

The web interface (GUI): you enter shipments and documents manually on the Commission's website.
An integration (API): your own system, such as your ERP or transport software, talks directly to DIWASS.

Which route applies is decided by each competent authority per procedure (notification, Annex VII, pre-consent). An authority can require a local system for notifications and allow the website for Annex VII. Commercial software can be used in all cases. For a direct connection, your company has to be registered and have an authorised user, who requests the API details from the Commission's helpdesk. The technical requirements are set out in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1290. The Commission itself does not train companies.

In Flanders, according to Pionira, the OVAM digital desk remains in place for shipments under the notification procedure. Check with OVAM what that means for your situation.

When does a system integration pay off?

With a handful of shipments per month, the web interface is enough. With volume, manual entry becomes the bottleneck: the same data (waste stream, quantity, carrier, consignee, recovery facility) is already in your ERP, weighbridge or transport system and then has to be typed into DIWASS again, while several parties have to complete and sign their part. That is double work, a chance for errors and delays at the weighbridge.

With an integration you enter that data once and the rest flows automatically. VTS IT builds SOAP integrations between your ERP and DIWASS, in line with the Commission's technical specifications, for things like:

Operators: finding and managing the registered parties you need.
Notifications and decisions: submitting, following up and processing the authority's response.
Shipments and movement documents: creating and updating them from your transport planning.
Annex VII documents: creating and completing them and letting the confirmations from carrier, consignee and receiving facility flow back to your systems.
Attachments: sending and retrieving supporting documents.
Events and changes: following status changes and only updating what has changed.
User authorisations and pre-consented facilities: access management and pre-approved facilities.

Our approach is the same as for every integration: a thorough analysis of your processes and systems first, then a build that you test yourself in the Commission's test environment before go-live, and monitoring afterwards. DIWASS also sets requirements for secure authentication and for how and in what order the web services are called. We build that in correctly so you don't have to think about it.

To be fair: not every company needs an integration. If you handle few shipments, the web interface is perfectly fine and we will tell you so. But the time to build and test is limited: if you want to be ready when Annex VII goes digital, it is best to start now.

Curious what this means for your systems? Schedule a no-obligation call or first read more about our approach to system integration.

Sources

This article is for information only and is not legal advice. Check the current rules with the European Commission or your competent authority.