The Basel Convention Implementation and Compliance Committee successfully completed its fourteenth meeting on 18 November 2021, bringing to the Conference of the Parties two guidance documents as well as a wide range of recommendations to improve the implementation of the Convention, in addition to having reviewed and assisted in resolving implementation and compliance difficulties faced by 19 Parties.

Over a series of online sessions convened between July 2020 and November 2021, the Committee tackled implementation and compliance issues with core obligations under the Convention, including the obligations to transmit national reports, to develop adequate legal frameworks, to prevent and combat illegal traffic and to control transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and other wastes. Building on its past practice the Committee also convened a dialogue session with 8 other multilateral environmental agreements with trade control provisions to learn from their experience in preventing and combating illegal trade/traffic in environmentally sensitive commodities.

“The Committee has continued to make strides by classifying compliance performance, strengthening its cooperation with other compliance committees, developing recommendations on how to integrate the implementation of the Convention into the broader United Nations sustainable development cooperation framework processes, and developing guidance documents on transit transboundary movements and on insurance, bond and guarantee. The breadth of its recommendations and outcomes provides the Conference of the Parties with a range of opportunities to improve the implementation of the Convention” said the Executive Secretary of the Convention Mr. Rolph Payet.

The outcomes of the Committee will be considered by the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties when it resumed its work through a face-to-face segment on 6-17 July 2022.

Expressing his satisfaction with the progress achieved, the Chair of the Committee, Mr. Florisvindo Furtado (Cabo Verde) said “The members of the Committee have showed remarkable commitment in these COVID-19 pandemic times and worked relentlessly to deliver on their mandate. The Committee has helped Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Sao Tome and Principe and Turkmenistan resolve their compliance difficulties, and is assisting 16 other Parties achieve the same. The Committee continues to have an excellent track record with regards to specific submissions thanks to the commitment of Parties towards the Convention”.

The work of the Committee benefits from generous financial support provided by Germany, Japan, Norway and Switzerland.