United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency Response
(OS-305)
EPA530-F-92-007
May 1992
Office of Solid Waste
Environmental
Fact Sheet
ENTRY INTO FORCE OF
THE BASEL CONVENTION
On May 5, 1992, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal will enter into force
for twenty nations. Basel parties, under terms of the Convention, must ban
imports and exports of hazardous and other wastes with countries not
party to the Convention unless such shipments are covered by other
governmental agreements. The U.S. is not currently a Basel party. U.S.
companies shipping waste to countries that have ratified may have to
comply with new requirements imposed by the foreign government.
Goals of the Convention
The Basel Convention is the first major international agreement
addressing imports and exports of hazardous wastes, household
wastes, and household waste combustion ash (referred to
hereafter as "covered wastes"). It seeks a reduction in the
generation of covered wastes, a reduction in transboundary waste
movements consistent with environmentally sound and efficient
management, and sets a standard for environmentally sound
management for those transboundary waste movements that do
occur. The United States and over fifty other countries signed the
Basel Convention between March, 1989 and March, 1990, the
allocated timeframe.
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Major Provisions of the Basel Convention Include:
• a prohibition of covered waste imports and exports between
parties and non-parties, except when pursuant to separate
governmental agreements, provided that such agreements are
compatible with environmentally sound management;
• a requirement for notice to and written consent of the
receiving country and any transit country before a covered waste
may be exported;
• an obligation (on both the exporting and importing countries)
to prohibit a shipment if there is reason to believe that the waste
would not be managed in an environmentally sound manner in the
importing country;
• uniform notification and tracking requirements and
requirements for contracts between importers and exporters;
* an obligation upon the country of export to assume
responsibility for disposal of covered waste illegally shipped if
the exporter has solely committed the illegal act and is unable to
assume responsibility for the waste;
• a parallel obligation upon the country of import where the
illegal act was committed solely by the importer or disposer;
• an obligation to increase cooperation among parties to share
information and develop technical guidelines for environmentally
sound management; and
• a prohibition of exports of covered wastes to Antarctica.
U.S. Ratification
Two events must occur before the U.S. can ratify the Basel
Convention: the Senate must consent to the ratification, and the
Congress must pass legislation which would give EPA additional
authority necessary to implement the Convention.
A number of legislative proposals, including one introduced on
behalf of the Administration, are now under consideration in the
Congress.
Other International Agreements
The U.S. has two bilateral agreements for transboundary
movements of hazardous wastes: one with Mexico, which is a Basel
party; and one with Canada, which is expected to ratify Basel
shortly. As a member of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. is also involved in a
multilateral arrangement for intra-OECD movements of
recyclables. These agreements will allow continued trade of
certain Basel wastes between the U.S. and some Basel parties if
conducted in compliance with the terms of the agreements.
For More Information
EPA will soon publish an informational notice in the Federal
Register that will include the complete text of the Convention.
Reprints may be ordered by calling the RCRA Hotline at (800)424-
9346.
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