These Regulations are for the purposes of giving effect to Council Regulation (EEC) No. 259/93 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community, as amended. While this Council Regulation is directly applicable in Member States of the European Union, it is necessary to provide for certain administrative details, in particular those relating to enforcement. The Regulations inter alia provide for the designation of competent authorities for the purpose of controlling waste transhipments, powers of competent authorities, the imposition of certain requirements in relation to the shipment of waste into or out of the State, and the prohibition of waste imports by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Agency and a local authority shall have the powers, functions and duties assigned by the Council Regulation to a competent authority of dispatch, destination or transit, as the case may be, and shall perform such functions and duties and may exercise such powers.