GreenCustoms: Basel Secretariat

Background

The Basel Convention on the Control of Tranboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted in 1989 and entered into force on 5 May 1992. The Convention is the response of the international community to the problems caused by the annual world-wide production of hundreds of millions of tonnes of wastes. These wastes are hazardous to people or the environment because they are toxic, poisonous, explosive, corrosive, flammable, eco-toxic, or infectious. This global environmental treaty strictly regulates the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and provides obligations to its Parties to ensure that such wastes are managed and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.

Paragraph 1 of Article 9 of the Basel Convention defines illegal traffic for the purposes of the Convention as transboundary movements of hazardous and other wastes that take place under the following conditions:

without notification pursuant to the provisions of the Convention to all States concerned; or

without the consent pursuant to the provisions of the Convention of a State concerned; or

with consent obtained from States concerned through falsification, misrepresentation or fraud; or

when movement does not conform in a material way with the documents; or

when movement results in deliberate disposal of hazardous wastes in contravention of the Convention and of general principles on international law.

Paragraph 3 of Article 4 of the Convention provides that:"The Parties consider that illegal traffic in hazardous wastes or other wastes is criminal". Paragraph 5 of Article 9 lays the obligation on each Party to"introduce appropriate national/domestic legislation to prevent and punish illegal traffic."

The Ministerial Declaration adopted by the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (December 1999) considered that the issue of prevention and monitoring of illegal traffic of hazardous and other wastes is one of the priorities for the Basel Convention in the coming years. Accordingly, the Strategic Plan for the Implementation of the Basel Convention (2000-2010), adopted by the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, designated the issue as one of the focus areas for future action. Accordingly, the Secretariat of the Basel Convention:

Has undertaken, and continues to undertake, training workshops for customs services, border guards, port enforcement officers, police and other enforcement agencies

Prepared Guidance Elements for the Detection, Prevention and Control of Illegal Traffic in Hazardous Wastes which was approved by the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (December 2002). The document aims to be a practical guide to assist enforcement of national law implementing the Basel Convention. Its intended audience includes Governments, ministries, federal and state authorities and agencies and law enforcement authorities. The Guidelines focus on enforcement at the domestic level. By reference to various Basel Convention documents they also provide guidance for Parties who have yet to develop implementing legislation;

Prepared as a supplement to the Guidance Elements a Training Manual on Illegal Traffic, which was approved by the fifth session of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention on behalf of the Conference of the Parties. The training manual addresses the specific issues of relevance to enforcement officers, including customs officers. The manual includes separate chapters on awareness training for customs, police, other law enforcement agencies, inspectors and regulators, prosecutors and judges, as well as instructions on the formation of hazardous waste task forces and the collaborative use of new technologies to detect illegal shipments. It contains appendices that detail a model hazardous waste investigation, sampling and analysis protocols and a case scenario. Parties to the Convention are invited to use this manual, to report to the Basel Convention Secretariat on their experience in the use of the manual and to submit to it information on their domestic legislation and regulations and to submit case studies relating to the prevention and punishment of illegal traffic.

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