The Joint ILO/IMO/Basel Convention Working Group on Ship Scrapping (“Joint Working Group”) was established by decisions of the pertinent governing bodies of the three organisations, to

• Consider the work programmes of three organizations on the issue of ship scrapping in order to avoid duplication of work and overlapping of responsibilities and competencies between the three organizations, and identify further needs;
• Facilitate the exchange of views between the three organizations in order to ensure a coordinated approach to all relevant aspects of ship scrapping;
• Undertake an examination of the guidelines produced by the three organisations relating to ship scrapping with a view to identifying any possible gaps, overlaps, or ambiguities;
• The Joint Working Group is also expected to consider mechanisms to promote jointly the implementation of the relevant guidelines on ship scrapping, as well as to monitor progress of any jointly organized technical cooperation activities.

The Terms of Reference of the Joint Working Group can be found here. Five Parties were nominated by COP-7 to represent the Basel Convention in the Joint Working Group.

The Joint Working Group held its first session on 15-17 February 2005 at IMO Headquarters in London. (Session report: Arabic , Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish; all meeting documents (in English) can be accessed here).

The Joint Working Group held its second session on 12 to 14 December 2005 at the United Nations Office in Geneva. (Session report: Arabic , Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish; all meeting documents (in English) can be accessed here).

The third session of the Joint Working Group was held from 29 to 31 October 2008 at the ILO Headquarters in Geneva. The invitation issued to Basel Convention Members of the Joint Working Group and all Parties and Signatories to the Basel Convention can be accessed here.  Further information on the meeting, including session documents can be accessed on the ILO Sectoral Activities website. The report of the meeting (currently only available in English) can be accessed here