National reporting

Within its mandate to improve the implementation of and compliance with paragraph 3 of Article 13 on national reporting, the Committee was requested to undertake a number of activities.

By its decision BC-14/15, the Conference of the Parties mandated the Committee to:

1. Classify and, as appropriate, publish information on Parties’ compliance with their annual national reporting obligations for 2016 and 2017 based on the assumptions, criteria and categories adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth meeting (decision BC-13/9), and the targets adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its fourteenth meeting (decision BC-14/15);
2. Develop recommendations on the revision of targets referred to in paragraph 13 of decision BC-14/15 for the reports due for 2018 and subsequent years;
3. With a view to increasing the completeness and timeliness of national reporting under paragraph 3 of Article 13, explore how individual Parties can integrate national reporting needs under the Basel Convention into the United Nations Development Assistance Framework;
4. Monitor the activities undertaken by or with the support of the Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres, the United Nations Environment Programme and other entities aimed at assisting Parties to transmit national reports and develop recommendations on improving implementation and compliance with paragraph 3 of Article 13 of the Convention;
5. Develop recommendations on how best to make use of the information contained in the national reports as a means of improving timeliness and completeness of national reporting under paragraph 3 of Article 13 of the Basel Convention.
6. Consider elaborating and further assessing measures not included under paragraphs 20 (a) and (b) of the terms of reference of the Committee that may be required when a Party has not submitted its national report for two or more years since the report due in 2016, and to report to the Conference of the Parties at its fifteenth meeting (see paragraph 19 of decision BC-14/15).

To assist with its work under 4. above, the Committee prepared a questionnaire with a view to collecting information on activities undertaken by or with the support of the Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres, the United Nations Environment Programme and other entities aimed at assisting Parties with the transmission of national reports. The questionnaire, which also sought information on activities aimed at assisting Parties with the development of legal frameworks, was made available to the following organizations:

• The Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres;
• UNEP;
• the Global Environment Facility (GEF);
• the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD);
• the World Bank;
• the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO);
• the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO);
• the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP);
• the African Development Bank (AFDB);
• the Asian Development Bank (ADB); and
• the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).