Providing further legal clarity

Decision BC-10/3: Section C (extract)

The Secretariat, assisted by legal and technical experts as appropriate, is requested to prepare two reports to be:

  • made available on the Basel Convention website for comments from Parties;
  • finalized on the basis of comments received; and
  • submitted to the eighth session of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG8)

The OEWG8 is invited to report on its deliberations over the reports to the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP11).

Draft report on terminology 

Draft study on used and end of life goods

Decision OEWG-8/7 on the Follow-up to the Indonesian Swiss country-led initiative: providing further legal clarity

During its eighth meeting, the Open-ended Working group finalized the report on terminology and the draft study on used and end of life goods. 

In its decision OEWG-8/7, the Open-ended Working group also requested the Secretariat to prepare, by 30 November 2012 and as a first step towards the development of guidance on the interpretation of certain terminology, a draft glossary of terms, including "waste", "non-waste", "hazardous wastes", "non-hazardous wastes", "reuse", "direct reuse", "refurbishment", "second-hand goods", "used goods" and "end-of-life goods", and invited parties and others to provide comments thereon by 15 February 2013.

In its decision, the Open-ended Working Group also invited parties and others to send, by 15 February 2013, further comments on options for the interpretation of terms, considering both voluntary and legally-binding options.

The draft glossary of terms, comments received thereon as well as comments on options for the interpretation of terms are expected to be considered by the Conference of the Parties at its eleventh meeting, alongside the recommendation, by the Open-ended Working group, that that meeting establish an intersessional working group entrusted with the development of guidance on the interpretation of certain terminology, as well as the consideration of options for further steps towards the consistent interpretation of terminology, including possible voluntary and legally-binding options.

Comments on the draft glossary of terms and on options for further steps should be sent to:
Ms Juliette Voinov Kohler (juliette.kohler@unep.org).

 

Comments on the draft glossary of terms

 
SubmitterDateTitleEnglishFrenchSpanish
Items: 13     
Austria12/28/2012Comments from Austria on the "draft glossary of terms"79.51 K  
Kyrgyzstan2/4/2013Comments from Kyrgyzstan on the "draft glossary of terms"824.98 K  
Mexico1/28/2013Comentarios a las decisiones OEWG-8/6: Applications for new entries to Annex IX to the Basel Convention y OEWG-8/7: Follow-up to the Indonesia-Swiss country-led initiative providing further legal clarity  240.68 K
Barbados2/8/2013Comments from Barbados on the "draft glossary of terms"1.96 MB  
Switzerland2/11/2013Comments from Switzerland on the "draft glossary of terms"97 K  
ITI2/15/2013Comments from ITI on the "draft glossary of terms"630 K  
Monaco2/15/2013Comments from Monaco on the "draft glossary of terms" 94.85 K 
Norway2/15/2013Comments from Norway on the "draft glossary of terms"377.32 K  
United States of America2/15/2013Comments from the United States of America on the "draft glossary of terms" and on options for the interpretation of terms550.81 K  
Bahrain2/17/2013Comments from Bahrain on the "draft glossary of terms"6.37 K  
Dominican Republic2/18/2013Comments from Dominican Republic on the "draft glossary of terms"  8.46 K
Argentina2/22/2013Comments from Argentina on the "draft glossary of terms"279.59 K  
European Union2/28/2013Comments from the EU and its Member States on the proposed draft glossary of terms according to paragraph 6 of decision OEWG-8/7387 K  

Comments on options for the interpretation of terms

 
SubmitterTitleEnglish
Items: 2  
ZambiaComments from Zambia on decision of the eighth meeting of the open ended working group meeting of the basel convention13.2 K 23.81 K
United States of AmericaComments from the United States of America on the "draft glossary of terms" and on options for the interpretation of terms550.81 K

BC-10/3: Indonesian-Swiss country-led initiative to improve the effectiveness of the Basel Convention

C. Providing further legal clarity

The Conference of the Parties,

Noting that a number of the provisions of the Convention are interpreted differently by parties and that the implementation and application of these provisions would benefit from additional legal clarity,

Recognizing that there needs to be a clear distinction between wastes and non-wastes for some used equipment and second hand goods and that imports of used and near end-of-life goods that soon become waste are a matter of serious concern in some countries,

1. Requests the Secretariat, assisted by legal and technical experts as appropriate,

(a) To prepare a study on the implementation of the Convention as it relates to the interpretation of certain terminology used in the Convention and a list of other relevant terms related to the implementation of the Convention, including:

(i) Waste/non-waste;
(ii) Hazardous waste/non-hazardous waste;
(iii) Re-use;
(iv) Direct re-use;
(v) Refurbishment;
(vi) Second‑hand goods;
(vii) Used goods;

(b) To prepare a draft report containing the study and possible options for the interpretation of the terms listed above, which shall be made available on the Basel Convention website;

2. Invites parties to provide comments to the Secretariat on the above-mentioned draft report and elements therein;

3. Requests the Secretariat to finalize the report in the light of the comments received and to submit it to the Open-ended Working Group at its eighth session for its consideration;

4. Requests the Open-ended Working Group, taking into account the above-mentioned report, to prepare draft guidance to provide national authorities, regional centres and all other stakeholders with consistent advice on the interpretation of the terms in question, building on existing guidance and examples of good practices, for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its eleventh meeting;

5. Requests the Secretariat, assisted by legal and technical experts as appropriate and taking into account other initiatives such as the Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment, to prepare and make available on the Basel Convention website a study to identify options for dealing with the problem posed by used and end-of-life goods, which could include take-back obligations and clarification of the concept of “charitable donations”;

6. Invites parties to provide comments to the Secretariat on the above-mentioned study;

7. Requests the Secretariat to finalize the study in the light of the comments received and to submit it to the Open-ended Working Group at its eighth session for its consideration;

8. Invites the Open-ended Working Group to report on the above-mentioned study and its deliberations thereon to the Conference of the Parties at its eleventh meeting.

 

 

UN Number  Title  English 
OEWG-8/7  Follow-up to the Indonesian Swiss country-led initiative: providing further legal clarity  Download OEWG-8/7 in English - Word Format Download OEWG-8/7 in English - PDF Format