How to Register Your Company in DIWASS

Registration is one of the first operational dependencies in DIWASS. An operator that is not registered cannot simply be typed into a notification or Annex VII document: it must exist in the system so it can be selected.

Who needs to be registered?

The Commission states that all economic operators involved in a waste shipment where an EU Member State is the country of dispatch, destination or transit must be registered in DIWASS. Depending on the shipment, that can include:

• notifiers;
• waste producers;
• persons arranging shipments;
• carriers;
• consignees; and
• waste receiving facilities.

Operators from third countries can also need registration so that they can be selected in documents involving the EU.

Step 1 — Find your required access route

Before starting registration, confirm whether your competent authority requires your organisation to use the Commission GUI or a local interconnected system.

The Commission explains that Member State competent authorities declared their chosen access methods under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1290. Those choices were made separately for:

• prior notification and consent, including movement documents;
• Annex VII exchange; and
• communication on pre-consented recovery facilities.

That separation matters. A business may be required to use one access route for notifications and another for Annex VII.

Step 2 — If you use the Commission GUI, become a DIWASS user

For GUI registration, the Commission's first instruction is that the person registering the operator must first become a user of DIWASS. In practice this is the human account that will submit or manage the operator registration and later represent the organisation where authorised.

Do not make this a single-person dependency. Once your organisation is operational, assign backup users and document who can approve representation requests.

Step 3 — Prepare the operator data

The registration request requires basic operator information. The Commission specifically mentions:

• operator name;
• main identification number;
• address; and
• contact details.

The exact identification number to use depends on what the relevant competent authority has declared for its jurisdiction. Before submitting, compare the operator's legal details with the authority's identification-number guidance rather than guessing which business identifier DIWASS expects.

Step 4 — Select the competent authority that should approve the request

For GUI registration, the user must select the competent authority responsible for approving the operator registration. The Commission publishes guidance identifying the authorities responsible for operator registration by location.

This becomes especially important when a company has sites in more than one Member State. The Commission's FAQ notes that, where the main operator is established in one Member State but a site is in another, the site registration should be handled by the competent authority where that site is located.

Step 5 — Submit the registration request

After entering the operator data and selecting the competent authority, submit the request in DIWASS. Registration is not necessarily instantaneous because the competent authority has an approval role.

If the authority requires supporting documents, the Commission says those documents must be provided directly to the authority outside DIWASS. Therefore a registration can remain unresolved even when the online fields have been completed correctly if the authority is waiting for separate evidence.

Step 6 — Set up representation and users

Registration creates the operator record, but users also need the appropriate representation rights to work on behalf of the operator. The Commission currently provides separate tutorials for:

• requesting authorisation to represent an operator;
• requesting authorisation when the user is not yet active in DIWASS;
• approving users' authorisation requests; and
• registering an operator site.

For a business workflow, treat this as an access-control process. Decide who can create or modify shipment documents, who can approve user access, and who acts as backup.

Step 7 — Register relevant sites where necessary

Companies operating treatment or other relevant facilities should make sure the site structure represented in DIWASS matches the actual legal and operational setup. A company record and a site/facility are not always interchangeable operational concepts.

For cross-border groups, verify which authority validates each site rather than assuming the authority responsible for the company's registered office will validate all locations.

Step 8 — Verify that the operator is actually selectable

The practical test is simple: once registration has been approved, the operator should appear as a selectable entity in the relevant DIWASS document workflow.

The Commission states that DIWASS does not allow operator details to be entered manually at the point a notification or Annex VII document is submitted. If the required operator does not appear in the selection list, the workflow can be blocked until the registration issue is resolved.

What about non-EU operators?

Third-country operators can also be registered in the Commission GUI or interconnected local systems. The competent authority chosen for approval depends on whether the relevant third-country authority actively uses DIWASS.

• If the relevant third-country competent authority actively uses DIWASS, the Commission says the operator should select that authority for the country where it has its registered office.
• If that third-country authority does not actively use DIWASS, the operator should select an EU competent authority that would act as dispatch, destination or transit authority for the planned notified shipment.

Registration of a non-EU operator is still primarily about identification and selectability. The Commission makes clear that registration does not necessarily mean the third-country operator must actively use DIWASS itself.

Common registration blockers

What to prepare before you start

• legal operator name exactly as registered;
• correct business/operator identification number for your jurisdiction;
• registered address and contact information;
• list of operational sites/facilities;
• competent authority responsible for the operator and each relevant site;
• the authority's declared DIWASS access route;
• names of primary and backup DIWASS users;
• supporting documentation the authority may request; and
• a list of recurring counterparties whose DIWASS registration should also be checked.

What to do immediately after registration

Do not stop once the operator appears in DIWASS. Test the operational chain:

1. confirm your users can represent the operator;
2. confirm sites/facilities appear correctly;
3. confirm recurring counterparties are selectable;
4. check the access route for the procedure you actually use;
5. run through a representative notification or Annex VII scenario; and
6. document who internally owns each step.

Official sources

• European Commission — How to register economic operators in DIWASS
• European Commission — Digital Waste Shipment System (DIWASS)
• EUR-Lex — Regulation (EU) 2024/1157
• EUR-Lex — Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1290