Overview

Article 15, paragraph 7 of the Convention, the Conference of the Parties is required to undertake three years after the entry into force of this Convention, and at least every six years thereafter, an evaluation of its effectiveness and, if deemed necessary, to consider the adoption of a complete or partial ban of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and other wastes in light of the latest scientific, environmental, technical and economic information.

By its decision III/10 on evaluation of the effectiveness of the Basel Convention, adopted in 1995, the Conference of the Parties at its third meeting recognized that the Convention has contributed to the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their management in an environmentally sound manner. The Conference of the Parties furthermore adopted amendments to the Convention (decision III/1 ), known as the Ban Amendment, which entered into force on 5 December 2019.

By its decision VI/1 , the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties adopted the Strategic Plan for the Implementation of the Basel Convention (to 2010) as the major instrument to give further effect to the Basel Declaration on Environmentally Sound Management.

By its decision BC-10/2 , the Conference of the Parties adopted the strategic framework for the implementation of the Basel Convention for the period 2012-2021. The framework consists of a vision, guiding principles, strategic goals and objectives, means of implementation, indicators for measuring achievement and performance and evaluation.

At its fifteenth meeting, the Conferenced of the Parties welcomed the report on the final evaluation of the strategic framework for 2012-2021. By decision BC-15/3, the Conference of the Parties decided to improve, as appropriate, the strategic framework for 2012–2021 and requested the Small Intersessional Working Group to present its findings and recommendations to improve the framework to the Open-ended Working Group at its thirteenth meeting, followed by the Conference of the Parties at its sixteenth meeting.

At its sixteenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties decided by decision BC-16/ 1 that a renewed strategic framework should be developed, taking into account the recommendations developed by the intersessional working group.