All waste for disposal and recovery that is to be shipped across national borders must, in principle, be notified. The only exception is waste for recovery that is listed in Annexes III, IIIA and IIIB as well as V Part 1 List B of the VVA and is to be shipped within the EU. This exception also applies to the import and partly to the export of waste from or to EFTA countries (Iceland, Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein), to countries that have ratified the Basel Convention and to most of the countries that are parties to the OECD Council Decision C(2001)107. For these wastes, only the so-called "general information requirements" apply.

For the types of waste listed below, the notification procedure does not have to be carried out for certain shipments; instead, the "General Information Obligations" pursuant to Article 18 of the VVA apply. The completed form according to Annex VII of the VVA must be carried along with the waste transport. Furthermore, a contract must be concluded between the person who arranges the shipment and the consignee, which must already be effective at the beginning of the shipment and the content of which must meet the requirements of Article 18 (2) of the VVA. If the shipment fails or is illegal, the initiator of the shipment must take back the waste at his own expense or recycle it in another way. He undertakes to do this in the contract. In the contract, he also agrees, if necessary, to store the waste temporarily (cf. also Article 18(2) VVA). It is recommended that the contract is also carried along during transport.