There is no single European Union scrap metal dealer licence. A company that buys, sells, stores, processes or ships ferrous and non-ferrous scrap in the EU works under layered rules: national registration or permits for waste operators, site environmental authorisation where treatment takes place, and shipment procedures when the metal crosses a border. Metal that still counts as waste follows waste law. Metal that has met end-of-waste criteria is traded as a secondary raw material, with different paperwork.
The framework below is the EU baseline. Member States transpose and enforce it. A yard in Italy, a trader in the Netherlands and a broker in Germany may hold documents with different names for the same roles. This article is a map of what usually has to be in place, not a substitute for counsel or for the competent authority in the Member State of establishment.
Roles the law distinguishes
Directive 2008/98/EC (the Waste Framework Directive) separates the people who handle waste. Establishments that carry out waste treatment — storage beyond a short transfer, sorting, shearing, shredding, baling for recovery, and other recovery operations — need a permit from the competent authority. The permit states at least the types and quantities of waste, the operations allowed, technical requirements, monitoring and, where relevant, closure conditions.
Professional collectors and carriers of waste, and dealers and brokers who arrange recovery or disposal for others (including those who never take physical possession), must be registered with the competent authority if they are not already covered by a permit. Some Member States require a full permit rather than a light registration when hazardous waste is involved, or for certain trading roles. Germany’s commercial waste rules are an example of that split between notification and permit; other Member States use their own registers and licence titles.
A yard, trader, mill, processor or broker should match the actual activity to the role. Buying and reselling without a site is dealing. Arranging a cargo for a third party is brokerage. Running a weighbridge, shear or fragmentiser is treatment. Hauling with own trucks is transport. One company can hold several registrations. Operating without the one that applies is an enforcement matter in the country of establishment.
Site and environmental authorisation
A scrap yard is usually a waste facility. Beyond the waste-treatment permit under Article 23 of the Waste Framework Directive, larger installations may fall under industrial emissions rules (the Industrial Emissions Directive) or under national environmental authorisation for noise, water, dust and soil. Local planning permission for the site is separate from the waste permit and is still required in most Member States before a yard opens or expands.
The permit scope matters commercially. A licence limited to ferrous scrap does not authorise a mixed non-ferrous line. A shredder that produces shredded steel and a non-ferrous concentrate needs the waste codes and operations that cover both streams. Incoming control, radiation monitoring and fire precautions are commonly written into the management system that authorities expect to see.
Cross-border shipments
Moving scrap between Member States or out of the Union is governed by the Waste Shipment Regulation (currently transitioning from Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 to Regulation (EU) 2024/1157). That is a shipment authorisation regime, not a substitute for the operator’s national registration.
Clean, green-listed non-hazardous metal scrap for recovery within the EU and to OECD destinations generally moves under information requirements (Annex VII documentation): who ships, what waste, how much, from where to which recovery facility. Hazardous waste, many mixed wastes, e-waste and shipments for disposal require prior written notification and consent from the authorities of dispatch, destination and any transit country, with a contract and financial guarantees as the regulation provides.
From 21 May 2027, exports of non-hazardous waste for recovery to non-OECD countries are generally prohibited unless the destination is on the Commission’s authorised list. OECD and non-OECD scrap shipments and the wider EU export restrictions decide whether a cargo can leave at all. The notifier or exporter named on the documents must be entitled to act; a broker without the right status cannot paper a load.
Hazardous, radioactive and product-status metal
Most prepared HMS, copper wire and aluminium grades move as non-hazardous waste when they are still waste. Contaminated lots, certain oils, batteries, some WEEE fractions and sealed units can push a parcel into hazardous or restricted categories and into notification. Lead scrap and battery-related streams often carry extra transport and packaging rules.
Radiation monitoring at the gate is standard practice in European yards. Orphan sources and contaminated loads are a compliance and insurance issue; they are not solved by renaming the lot.
When iron, steel, aluminium or copper scrap meets the EU end-of-waste criteria (Regulations 333/2011 and 715/2013), it ceases to be waste. Shipment then follows product and customs rules rather than the waste movement procedures. The producer still needs the management system and statement of conformity that those regulations require. Claiming end-of-waste without that documentation does not change the legal status.
Company, tax and cash rules that sit beside waste law
Waste registration is not company incorporation. A trader still needs a lawful company or sole-trader status in the Member State where it operates, a VAT number for intra-EU supplies where applicable, and compliance with invoicing and record-keeping. Some Member States restrict cash payment for metal scrap or require electronic reporting of purchases to limit theft and fraud. Those rules are national. They apply in addition to the waste permit.
Insurance — environmental liability, public liability, and cover for loads in transit — is often demanded by counterparties and by authorities when a permit is issued. It is not an EU “scrap licence”, but a deal without it rarely clears a mill credit check.
What a counterparty usually asks for
Before booking a programme, mills and large traders typically ask for proof of waste operator registration or permit, company and VAT details, and, for export, who will be the notifier and which procedure (Annex VII or notification) will be used. They may ask whether the lot is waste or end-of-waste. How to sell scrap metal still starts with grade and tonnes; the paperwork decides whether that offer is legal to ship.
Verified companies on ScrapEurope can list on live lots or wanted. Name the grade, quantity, place and company, and be ready to show the permits that match the activity. Request access if you trade or melt metal and hold the authorisations required in your Member State.
In the EU, scrap trading rests on national waste registration or permits for dealers, brokers, carriers and treatment sites, plus shipment consent or information procedures when metal crosses a border. Check the competent authority where you are established before you load.