WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIOWT/CTE/W/90
20 July 1998
(98-2863)
Committee on Trade and Environment Original:  English/
anglais
inglés
COMMUNICATION FROM THE SECRETARIAT OF THE BASEL CONVENTION ON
THE CONTROL OF TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS OF HAZARDOUS
WASTES AND THEIR DISPOSAL
The attached background paper1 has been received from the Secretariat of the Basel
Convention on the Control of Transboundary Moveme nts of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.  It
is being circulated to Members of the CTE in preparation for the Information Session with
Secretariats of Multilateral Environmental Agreements on 23 July 1998.
Comité du commerce et de l'environnement
COMMUNICATION DU SECRÉTARIAT DE LA CONVENTION DE BÂLE
SUR LE CONTRÔLE DES MOUVEMENTS TRANSFRONTIÈRES
DE DÉCHETS DANGEREUX ET DE LEUR ÉLIMINATION
La note d'information ci-jointe1 a été reçue du Secrétariat de la Convention de Bâle sur le
contrôle des mouvements transfrontières de déchets dangereux et de leur élimination.  Elle est
distribuée aux membres du Comité du commerce et de l'environnement en vue de la séance
d'information avec les Secrétariats des Accords environnementaux multilatéraux qui aura lieu le
23 juillet 1998.
Comité de Comercio y Medio Ambiente
COMUNICACIÓN DE LA SECRETARÍA DEL CONVENIO DE BASILEA
SOBRE EL CONTROL DE LOS MOVIMIENTOS TRANSFRONTERIZOS
DE DESECHOS PELIGROSOS Y SU ELIMINACIÓN
La Secretaría del Convenio de Basilea sobre el Control de los Movimientos Transfronterizos
de Desechos Peligrosos y su Eliminación ha enviado el documento de base adjunto1, que se distribuye
a los miembros del CCMA como parte de los preparativos para la reunión de información con las
Secretarías de Acuerdos Multilaterales sobre el Medio Ambiente, que se celebrará el
23 de julio de 1998.
                                                     
1 English only/En anglais seulement/En inglés solamente.WT/CTE/W/90
Page 2
THE BASEL CONVENTION ON THE CONTROL OF TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS
OF HAZARDOUS WASTES AND THEIR DISPOSAL
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Note by the Secretariat of the Basel Convention
I. ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT
The concept of environmentally sound management sustains the objectives, principles, and
obligations of the Basel Convention.  It concerns the management of hazardous wastes from their
generation to their final disposal and, in particular, the problem of transfrontier movements of such
wastes, which calls for international cooperation between exporting and importing countries in thelight of their joint responsibility for the protection of the global environment.  As such, this concept
should permeate national, domestic or regional social and economic policies.
In the Basel Convention, the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes is
defined as taking all practicable steps to ensure that hazardous wastes are managed in a manner whichwill protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects which may result from such
wastes.  The Convention recognizes the need to continue the development and implementation of
environmentally sound low-waste technologies, recycling options, good house-keeping and
management systems with a view to reducing to a minimum the generation of hazardous wastes.  It
recognizes also the increasing desire for the prohibition of transboundary movements of hazardouswastes and their disposal in other States, especially developing countries.
II. CLASSIFICATION AND HAZARD CHARACTERIZATION OF WASTES
For the purpose of the Basel Convention, wastes that are moved across frontiers and are
characterized as hazardous will be subject to the Convention.  The prime determinant for classifying a
waste as hazardous is its intrinsic properties (i.e. it exhibits or possesses one or more hazardous
characteristics of Annex III).  Annex I to the Convention is presumed to be the categories of wastes
that are characterized as hazardous under the Convention.  However, this is a rebuttable presumption
in the sense that an exporter or a generator can prove, by using the hazard characteristics of Annex III
to the Convention, that the waste identified in Annex I is not hazardous.  Wastes that belong to any of
the two categories contained in Annex II that ar e subject to transboundary movements and classified
as “other wastes” will be controlled under the Convention.  Waste that are not characterized ashazardous using Annexes I and III for this purpose, but are defi ned as, or are considered to be,
hazardous wastes by the domestic legislation of the Party of export, import or transit shall be
“hazardous wastes”.
At its fourth meeting in February 1998, the Conference of the Parties of the Basel Convention
decided to add the two lists of wastes prepared by the Technical Working Group as requested, at its
third meeting, as two new annexes to the Conv ention namely Annex VIII (list A) and Annex IX
(list B).  The Conference of the Parties also in structed the Technical Working Group to keep the
List A and List B of wastes under review:
(a) List A.  Wastes contained in this list are characterized as hazardous under Article 1,
paragraph 1(a) of the Convention, and their designation on this list does not preclude
the use of the Annex III to demonstrate that a waste is not hazardous.
(b) List B.  Wastes contained in this list will not be wastes covered by Article 1,
paragraph 1(a) of the Convention unless they contain Annex I material to an extent
causing them to exhibit an Annex III characteristic.WT/CTE/W/90
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The specific wastes contained on List A of Annex VIII and on List B of Annex IX are an elaboration
and clarification of the provisions of Article 1, paragraph 1(a) of the Convention by reference to
Annexes I and III.
Annex III of the Basel Convention contains a list of 14 hazardous characteristics.  The
Technical Working Group noted that uncertainties linked to the interpretation of the text of some of
the hazard classes of Annex III and in the absence of internationally accepted criteria for the classes
H10 to H13 may present a problem for the implem entation of the Convention.  The first 10 hazard
classes in Annex III (H1 to H8) are modelled on the United Nations Recommendations on the
transport of dangerous goods that provides a useful approach to interpreting these classes.  A limited
number of hazard classes need to be further considered for the purpose of the Basel Convention, in
particular taking into account the requirement for the disposal of wastes subject to the Convention, i.e.
H1 (Explosive) and H6.2 (Infectious).
For the hazard classes H10 (Liberation of toxic gas in contact with air or water), H11
(toxic-delayed or chronic) and H12 (ecotoxic), cons iderable explanation and elaboration are required.
The hazardous characteristics H10-H12 pose sp ecial problems.  Whilst H1-H8 correspond to
well-defined classes, the H10-H12 ones seek to address more general aspects of environmental and
health impacts resulting from the management, including disposal of hazardous wastes.  The
descriptions offered in Annex III of the Basel Convention do not amount to a precise definition of
each characteristic.  For example, some consider that the characteristic “ecotoxic” should operate only
within the aquatic environment, and in the context of bioaccumulation, whilst others believe it has amuch broader application and should apply to any environmental media.
For H13 (Capable, by any means, after disposal, of yielding another material), the third
meeting of the Conference of the Parties indicated the four options to retain:
(a) a narrow interpretation referring only to leachate;
(b) not to use the hazard characteristic until guidance was better developed;(c) explore with countries how they wish to use H13;  and(d) a broad interpretation referring to all disposal options of Annex IV to the Convention
likely to release harmful emissions, leachate, effluent or residues.  The Technical
Working Group at its eighth session in June 1995 did not retain this option as being
workable.
III. AMENDMENT OF THE BASEL CONVENTION
Recognizing the increased desire and demand of the international community for a ban on
export of hazardous wastes, especially to developing countries, the second meeting of the Conference
of the Parties (1994) decided to immediately prohibit all transboundary movements of hazardous
wastes which are destined for final disposal fr om OECD to non-OECD countries, and to phase out
such movements for recycling or recovery operations by 31 December 1997 and prohibit them as ofthat date.  At its third meeting, the Conference of the Parties agreed to adopt an amendment to the
Convention incorporating this export ban into the C onvention itself.  The Parties decided to amend the
Convention by inserting a new Article 4 A which stipulates that each Party listed in a new Annex VII
shall prohibit all transboundary movements of hazardous wastes that are destined for operations
according to Annex IV-A to States not listed on Annex VII  immediately.  States listed on Annex VIIare the members of the OECD, and the EC, Liechtenst ein.  Each Party listed in Annex VII shall phase
out by 31 December 1997, and prohibit as of that date, all transboundary movements of hazardous
wastes destined for operations listed in Annex IV-B .  Three-fourths of the Parties who accepted theWT/CTE/W/90
Page 4
Amendment need to ratify it for it to come into force.  As of June 1998, 8 Parties have ratified the
Amendment.
At its fourth meeting in Kuching, Malaysia, in February 1998, the Conference of the Parties
adopted Decision IV/8 regarding Annex VII as part of the Amendment contained in Decision III/1.  Inthis Decision, the Conference recognized the difficulties of modifying Annex VII prior to the entry
into force of the Amendment.  Indeed, three State Parties made proposals to be considered by the
Conference for them to be included into Annex VII.  Taking into account the above, the Conference
of the Parties decided to leave Annex VII unchanged until the Amendment contained in Decision III/1
enters into force.  The Conference also decided that issues relating to Annex VII should be further
explored and requested the Technical Working Group in cooperation with the Consultative Sub-group
of Legal and Technical Experts to provide Parties with a detailed and documented analysis that wouldhighlight issues related to Annex VII and to report to the fifth meeting of the Conference of the
Parties.  The 14th session of the Technical Working Group will take place from 2-5 November 1998
in South Africa and will be followed by a two da ys joint meeting with the Consultative Sub-group of
Legal and Technical Experts.
IV. ENFORCEMENT
A. U
SE OF THE HARMONIZED SYSTEM OF THE WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO)
The Conference of the Parties of the Basel Convention has given the mandate to the
Secretariat of the Basel Convention to cooperate with the WCO, in collaboration with the European
Commission and OECD, on matters concerning the separate identification of wastes in theharmonized system.  As of today, significant progress has been made to include entries for wastes
covered by the Basel Convention in the harmonized system.  As a general principle, separated
harmonized system subheadings should be created for hazardous wastes which are environmentally
sensitive and whose transboundary movements has to be controlled or which are important in
international trade.  The Harmonized System Review Sub-Committee intends to complete its work bythe end of 1998 so that all amendments to be accepted by the WCO could be adopted by June 1999.
The revision of the harmonized system is scheduled for the year 2002.  National administrations could
recommend the use of the harmonized system codes for wastes identified in the harmonized system
until the World Customs Organization nomenclature is being formally amended.  The last opportunity
for considering any additions or amendments to the current proposals will be September 1998.
B. I
LLEGAL TRAFFIC
The Secretariat of the Basel Convention is cooperating with Interpol on the issue of illegal
traffic in hazardous wastes.  The Secretariat is a member of the Sub-Working Group on Hazardous
Wastes established three years ago by Interpol.  The group agreed that there is an urgent need to
initiate a training module that can be packaged and transferred around the world.  It should be a “train
the trainers” program.  It is envisaged that training courses could be given at the Regional Centres forTraining and Technology Transfer established under the Basel Convention.  The Secretariat also
cooperates with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on matters related to illegal traffic
in hazardous wastes and in particular with the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human
Rights.  Environmental crimes according to penal law are in constant rise and, within this overall
increase, the most important rise concerns illegal waste disposal, including illegal transboundarymovements of wastes and hazardous.  Reasons for occurrence of illegal traffic in wastes and
hazardous wastes is multifold and can find roots in the following:
(a) increasing cost of disposal and differences in disposal costs
(b) differences in national/domestic law and regulations(c) high profit marginWT/CTE/W/90
Page 5
(d) difficulties in proving acts are criminal
(e) complex business set up
(f) possible involvement of organized crime
(g) liberalization of trade
(h) mobility of persons(i) lack of uniform definition of wh at is a waste or hazardous waste
(j) plurality of the international/regional legal instruments concerning hazardous waste
and the difficulties in following their provisions
(k) lack of harmonization on the enforcement side
(l) differences in waste management infrastructure
V. A GLOBAL FRAMEWORK FOR COMPLEXITY
The Basel Convention is a global framework where control procedures and management
options are mutually supportive in the quest for protecting health and the environment.  Hazardous
wastes are often mixtures of materials that are difficult to treat or dispose of.  As new chemicals are
being produced and used, new problems arise wi th the disposal of these chemicals which are
becoming more and more complex.  The challenge is multifold and the generation of hazardous wasteimpacts on all aspects of society.  This global fr amework is gradually being enlarged through the
alliance of experience, shared knowledge, pragmatism and science.  Already, work in the Basel
Convention has canvassed core environmental principles that are widely acknowledged and used by
States, intergovernmental organizations and civil society.
In the preamble of the Basel Convention, the Parties consider that enhanced control of
transboundary movement of hazardous wastes will act as an incentive for their environmentally sound
management and for the reduction of the volume of such transboundary movement.  They are
determined to protect, by strict control, human he alth and the environment against the adverse effects
that may result from the generation and management of these wastes.  In the same preamble, theParties recognize the need to promote the transfer of technology for the sound management of
hazardous wastes produced locally.  There is all through the Basel Convention a clear understanding
of the intimate relationship, complementarity and synergy between control of transboundary
movements and management of hazardous wastes wi th the purpose of ensuring optimal protection
from the adverse effects of these wastes on health and the environment.
Multi-dimensional issues require thorough, effective, coherent and concerted actions in
particular within the fast-evolving context of the world of wastes.  Thanks to the high spirit of
cooperation of the State Parties, Signatories and other stakeholders, the Basel Convention is meeting
this challenge.
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