Proposal for a Council Decision on the approval, on behalf of the Community, of the amendment of Annex I and the adoption of new Annexes VIII and IX to the Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal (Basel Convention), as laid down in Decision IV/9 of the Conference of the Parties (98/C 409/07) (Text with EEA relevance) COM(1998) 634 final - 98/0307(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 6 November 1998)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 130r, paragraph 4, and Article 228, paragraph 2, first sentence, and paragraph 3, first subparagraph thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas, by Council Decision 93/98/EEC (1), the European Economic Community approved the Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal, commonly known as the Basel Convention, and became a full Party to the Convention on 7 May 1994;

Whereas Decision III/1 of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention instructed the Basel Convention's Technical Working Group to give full priority to the development of lists for approval at the Fourth Conference of the Parties, and Decision III/12 of the Conference of the Parties instructed the Technical Working Group, among other things, to consider ways of taking forward the development of lists of hazardous wastes and the applicable procedure for their review, as well as further developing lists of wastes not covered by the Basel Convention;

Whereas the Technical Working Group has developed a list of wastes that are characterised as hazardous pursuant to Article 1, paragraph 1(a) ('List A`), and a list of wastes that are not covered by Article 1, paragraph 1(a), of the Basel Convention ('List B`) as a further elaboration and clarification of the provisions of Article 1, paragraph 1(a);

Whereas the additional lists developed by the Technical Working Group are not intended to be exhaustive, and the fact that a waste is included in List A does not preclude proof that in a particular case a waste is not hazardous pursuant to Article 1, paragraph 1(a), and the fact that a waste is on List B does not preclude its characterisation as hazardous pursuant to Article 1, paragraph 1(a);

Whereas, by virtue of a Council conclusion of 7 October 1997, the Commission participated on behalf of the Community in negotiations in the context of the Fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention;

Whereas on 27 February 1998, the Fourth Conference of the Parties adopted Decision IV/9 introducing two new Annexes to the Convention to further elaborate and clarify Article 1, paragraph 1(a); Annex VIII, containing the wastes that are characterised as hazardous, (List A of the Technical Working Group), and Annex IX, containing the wastes that are characterised as not covered by Article 1, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention (List B of the Technical Working Group); and introducing explanatory notes as an addition to Annex I to indicate that Annexes VIII and IX are not exhaustive, but are intended as an expeditious means of determining whether, in principle, a waste is hazardous for the purposes of the Convention;

Whereas pursuant to Article 18, paragraph 2, c) of the Convention, the additional Annexes to the Convention will come into force for all Parties to the Convention which have not notified the Depository that they are unable to accept an Annex, six months after the date of communication of the adoption of the Annexes by the Depository;

DECIDES AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The amendment of Annex I and the adoption of new Annexes VIII and IX to the Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal, as laid down in Decision IV/9 adopted by the Conference of the Parties on 27 February 1998, is hereby approved on behalf of the European Community.

The text of the amendment is attached to this Decision.

Article 2

This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

(1) OJ L 39, 16.2.1993, p. 1.