Geneva, Switzerland from 22 to 25 June 2020
Venue: Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG), 17 rue de Varembé, Geneva, Switzerland.
Highlights: The twelfth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG-12) will be held from 22 to 25 June 2020 in Geneva, back to back with the fourteenth meeting of the Implementation and Compliance Committee and the meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention which be held respectively from 26 to 30 June 2020, and on 26 June 2020 at the International Environment House 2. Pre-meetings to OEWG-12, including regional and Bureau meetings, will take place on Sunday, 21 June 2020.
The key issues and documents to be considered at OEWG-12 are the following: strategic framework; guidelines for environmentally sound management (ESM); five technical guidelines namely on: the ESM of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants, on incineration on land and on specially engineered landfill, for the identification and ESM of plastic wastes and for their disposal, on transboundary movements of e- waste and used electrical and electronic equipment, in particular regarding the distinction between waste and non-waste, and on the ESM of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with mercury or mercury compounds; consideration of whether to update the technical guidelines on hazardous waste related to physico-chemical treatment and biological treatment, and for the ESM of waste lead-acid batteries; national reporting; electronic approaches to the notification and movement documents; plastic waste; waste containing nanomaterials; consultation with the Committee Administering the Mechanism for Promoting Implementation and Compliance; providing further legal clarity; national legislation, notifications, enforcement of the Convention and efforts to combat illegal traffic; the Basel Convention Partnership Programme; cooperation with the World Customs Organization on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System; and the work programme of the Open-ended Working Group for 2022-2023.
Working languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.