SYLLABUS
GS-3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Context: The fifteenth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG-15) of the Basel Convention was held in Geneva, Switzerland, to advance technical, legal and policy work ahead of COP-18 (Panama, 2027).
About the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention
- The Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) is a subsidiary body of the Conference of the Parties (COP)to the Basel Convention and is open to all Parties.
- It assists the COP by reviewing implementation of the Convention’s work programme and providing recommendations on policy, technical, scientific, legal, institutional and administrative matters.
- The OEWG meets once between the biennial sessions of the COP to prepare decisions and recommendations for the next COP.
- OEWG-15 was attended by representatives from around 140 governments (over 580 participants) and adopted 19 decisions to guide intersessional work before the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP-18) in 2027.
Key Outcomes
- Adopted 19 decisions covering strategic, technical and legal aspects of hazardous and other waste management.
- Agreed to strengthen the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure for transboundary movement of hazardous waste.
- Advanced technical guidelines on e-waste, waste batteries, lead-acid batteries, waste tyres, mercury wastes, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and electronic waste identification.
- Recommended updated technical guidelines reflecting the plastic waste amendments and e-waste amendments.
- Requested compilation of activities on hazardous and other plastic waste under the Convention; however, countries remained divided on expanding the Convention’s role on plastic pollution due to parallel negotiations on the Global Plastics Treaty.
- Invited further comments and technical work on used textiles and textile wastes, including options for future regulation under the Convention.
- Encouraged pilot projects for electronic notification and movement documents to facilitate digital tracking of waste shipments.
- Continued work on improving national reporting, legal clarity on Annexes I, III and IV, and management of waste containing nanomaterials.
- Strengthened cooperation with the World Customs Organization (WCO) through updated Harmonized System codes for plastic waste, waste tyres and PCB-containing waste oils.
- Continued discussions on coordination between the Basel Convention and the Hong Kong Convention on environmentally sound ship recycling.
About the Basel Convention
- The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted in 1989 at Basel, Switzerland, and entered into force in 1992.
- It is the world’s most comprehensive international treaty governing hazardous and other wastes, with 191 Parties.
- Objective: To protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of hazardous and other wastes.
- It promotes:
- Minimisation of hazardous waste generation.
- Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) of wastes.
- Restriction of transboundary movement of hazardous wastes except where environmentally sound.
- The Convention is based on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) principle, under which hazardous waste exports require the written consent of importing and transit countries.
- It also prohibits exports of hazardous waste to:
- Countries that have banned such imports.
- Non-Parties (unless covered under Article 11 agreements).
- Antarctica.
- The Convention establishes 14 Basel Convention Regional and Coordinating Centres for training, technology transfer and capacity building.
India and the Basel Convention
- India became a Party to the Basel Convention in 1992 and had notified hazardous waste rules even before the Convention entered into force.
- India’s regulatory framework is governed by the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, along with the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016.
- In 2019, India imposed a complete ban on the import of solid plastic waste, including into Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Export Oriented Units (EOUs).
- India has not ratified the Basel Ban Amendment, unlike countries such as China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
- India has consistently opposed the “repairable e-waste” loophole in international discussions, arguing that it could facilitate illegal dumping of hazardous electronic waste.
Sources :
Down to Earth
Geneva Environment Network
BRSMEAS
Basel
Basel
Toxic Links