. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/CTE/W/163
12 October 2000
(00-4192)
Committee on Trade and Environment Original:  English
THE BASEL CONVENTION ON THE CONTROL OF TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS
OF HAZARDOUS WASTES AND THEIR DISPOSAL
Communication from the Basel Convention Secretariat
This background paper is circulated to Members in preparation for the MEA Information
Session on 24 October 2000.
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I. PARTIES TO THE BASEL CONVENTION AND AMENDMENT
1. As of October 2000, there are 141 Parties to the Basel Convention:
• Africa 31
• Asian and the Pacific 33
• Western Europe and others 28
• Central and Eastern Europe 20
• Latin America and the Caribbean 28
• the European Community
2. As of October 2000, 21 Parties have ratified, accepted or approved the ban amendment
contained in Decision III/1 (Amendment to the Base l Convention) adopted by the third meeting of the
Conference of the Parties (1995).  In accordance with Article 17 of the Convention, the Amendment
will enter into force upon ratification, acceptance or approval by three fourths of the Parties present at
the time of the adoption of the Amendment (62 Parties).
II. TRADE MEASURES
3. The Basel Convention obligations concern the control of transboundary movements of
hazardous wastes and other wastes and their environmentally sound management, including their
disposal.  Implementation of the provisions of the Convention may have direct or indirect effects on
trade in hazardous waste materials.
III. CAPACITY BUILDING
4. There are three major results that could be expected from the technical assistance provided by
or through the Secretariat:
(a) Awareness regarding unsound practices and the need to shift to environmentally
sound practices encompassing hazardous wastes minimization, management(including disposal) and pollution prevention;
(b) identification of the required elements to prepare national management plans for the
environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, including legal,WT/CTE/W/163
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administrative and institutional mechanis ms to implement the Basel Convention, as
well as relevant regional agreements concerning or related to hazardous wastes;
(c) enhancement of cooperation at the national or regional level to control transboundary
movements of hazardous wastes, to prevent and monitor illegal traffic in such wastes,
to harmonize control procedures and classification of wastes, and, as necessary, toorganize regional or sub-regional collection, storage and treatment facilities for
hazardous wastes.
5. Three domains are most often addressed through technical assistance activities:
• Identification of priority and common issues in terms of implementation of the
Basel Convention at the national or regional level and means required;  and
preparation of elements of hazardou s wastes management plans, including
methodologies for inventories and the prevention and control of illegal traffic;
• assessment of enforcement needs and priorities in relation to the implementation of
the Basel Convention, including training of enforcement personnel;  and
• establishment of regional centres for training and technology transfer and
identification of solutions or ways forward at the regional level to advance withachieving environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, encompassing
access to information on cleaner production and hazardous wastes minimization.
6. A number of possibilities are being explored by the Secretariat with a view to finding new
avenues for promoting environmentally sound technology transfer.  Preliminary contacts have been
established with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  Al so, cooperation with the
WTO could represent an important area of synergy in regard to the transfer of environmentally soundtechnologies.  Opportunities for complementarities could be explored with the WTO in the field of
intellectual property rights.
7. Financial support to technical assistance activities are of a voluntary nature.  Direct
contributions are made by Parties and Signatory to the Basel Convention Technical Cooperation Trust
Fund or through bilateral assistance.  The Basel Declaration on Environmentally Sound Management,adopted in December 1995, calls for finding new and innovative sources of funding for the
implementation of the Basel Convention.  In this context, the Secretariat has taken initiatives to
explore potential sources of funding with devel opment banks, the Global Environment Facility, and
industry, in addition to the traditional support provided by Parties and Signatory to the Convention.
IV. DISPUTE SETTLEMENT
8. There has been no case of use of dispute settlement procedures in matters dealing with trade
in the framework of the Basel Convention.
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