The review of Annexes I, III, IV and related aspects of Annexes VIII and IX to the Convention was initiated by the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting, by its decision BC-12/1,on the basis of a recommendation from the SIWG on legal clarity that had developed the glossary of terms.
Annex I to the Basel Convention lists the categories of wastes to be controlled under the Basel Convention, including both specific waste categories (Y1 to Y18) and wastes having specific constituents (Y19 to Y45). Annex III to the Basel Convention lists hazardous characteristics (H1 to H13). Annex IV to the Basel Convention lists the disposal operations; it includes two sections, namely section A entitled “Operations which do not lead to the possibility of resource recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct re-use or alternative uses”, and section B entitled “Operations which may lead to resource recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct re-use or alternative uses”. Entry A 1180 of Annex VIII and entry B 1110 of Annex IX to the Basel Convention pertain to electrical and electronic assemblies and include references to disposal operations.
During its thirteenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties, in its decision BC-13/2, established the Expert Working Group on the Review of Annexes (EWG) with a mandate and terms of reference as set out in the Annex to that decision.
During its fourteenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties, in its decision BC-14/16, extended the mandate of the EWG to also review entry B1110 in Annex IX and the mirror entry A1180 in Annex VIII as well as the consequential implications of the review of Annexes I, III and IV for other annexes of the Convention and for relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties. In its decision, the Conference of the Parties also requested the EWG to continue its work as follows:
During its fifteenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties adopted decision BC-15/18: Amendments to Annexes II, VIII and IX to the Basel Convention, pertaining to the e-waste entries A1180 and B1110, thereby completing the work of the expert working on the matter. More information on the E-Waste Amendments can be found here.
Also during its fifteenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties adopted decision BC-15/19: Providing further legal clarity, whereby it, among other things:
- Recalls the mandate of the expert working group as set out in decisions BC-13/2, BC 14/13 and BC-14/16 and decides to remove the review of entries A1180 in Annex VIII and B1110 in Annex IX from the mandate of the group;
- Acknowledges the need for further discussion on amendments to Annex IV – for example, on the following issues, among others, which were discussed during the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties:
- General introduction, captions and introductory text for sections A and B of Annex IV;
- Keeping, deleting, merging or splitting existing operations;
- Inclusion of new operations – for example, on preparing for reuse and catch-all operations;
- Consideration of non-environmentally sound management operations – for example, open burning;
- Inclusion of clarifying examples;
- Ordering and numbering of the operations;
- Requests the Open-ended Working Group to consider the proposals by the European Union to amend Annex IV and certain entries in Annexes II and IX to the Basel Convention[1] and the recommendations and findings of the expert working group[2], taking into account the discussions at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, as well as the progress made in the review of Annexes I and III, and to provide recommendations for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its sixteenth meeting.
More information on the activities of the expert working group during the biennium 2022-2023 can be found here.
The work of the expert working group on the review of Annexes is supported by Germany, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and the European Union.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------