Last Updated: March 27, 2013

51 in out of 66! 15 to go!

Basel Ban Amendment’s Legal Entry into Global Force

At the 10th Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention (COP10), the controversy over entry into force of Amendments was resolved with the adoption of the Country Led Initiative omnibus decision. The Parties resolved to adopt the fixed time approach which means that 3/4ths of the Parties that were present at the time of the adoption of an amendment are needed for it to enter into force. In September of 1995 at COP3, there were 87 Parties (all listed in the right-hand column of the table below). 3/4ths of 87 equals 66. So the Ban Amendment (Decision III/1) needs a total of 66 of those 87 that were Parties at the time of COP3 for entry into legal force. Currently we have 51 as indicated in yellow highlight below and in the Deposit Box above.
 

Basel Ban Implementation

The Basel Ban Amendment requires countries that are member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or of the European Union (EU), or Liechtenstein (Annex VII countries) to prohibit the export of hazardous wastes for any reason to non-Annex VII countries. There are currently 41 Annex VII countries. In terms of national implementation (as opposed to global entry into force) these are the important countries to ensure on the ground implementation. We are happy to report that of these countries a full 35 of them have ratified or placed within their national law, active text to implement decision III/1.