Procedures

Further Resources

Notifications under the Basel Convention: national definitions of hazardous wastes and restrictions on movements of wastes

Notifications under the Basel Convention: national definitions of hazardous wastes and restrictions on movements of wastes

Notifications under the Basel Convention: national definitions of hazardous wastes and restrictions on movements of wastes

Notifications under the Basel Convention: national definitions of hazardous wastes and restrictions on movements of wastes

The overarching objective of the Basel Convention is to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes. Under the Basel Convention, Parties have specific obligations to transmit certain information to each other. This includes notifications of national definitions of hazardous wastes in addition to those listed in the annexes of the Convention; and decisions to restrict or prohibit imports and/or exports of hazardous or other wastes. The current leaflet provides information about these notifications in a concise manner.

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National Definitions of Hazardous Waste

Mandate: 

Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Basel Convention obliges Parties to inform the Secretariat of the Basel Convention, of wastes other than those listed in Annexes I and II which are considered or defined as hazardous under its national legislation and of any requirements concerning transboundary movement procedures applicable to those wastes.

Frequency:

Parties are required to:

  • send their notifications of national definitions of hazardous wastes to the Secretariat, within six months of becoming a Party to the convention; and
  • inform the Secretariat of any subsequent changes made to the previously provided information.

Format:

The Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention at its tenth meeting (October 2011) adopted a revised standardized format for reporting national definitions of hazardous wastes or significant change to national definitions. This form is available in all six official United Nations languages and can be accessed in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Procedures and processes of the Secretariat:

Parties that have decided to consider or define wastes other than those listed in Annexes I and II as hazardous under their national legislation must send a specific notification using the appropriate format to the Secretariat for transmittal to all Parties. Once such a communication has been transmitted, the obligations arising under the Convention will apply to those wastes.

Information on national definitions reported through designated focal points to the Secretariat under question 2 (c) of the national reporting questionnaire under Article 13, paragraph 3 will be regarded as notifications under Article 3 and Article 13, paragraph 2 (b). 

The Secretariat makes available to all stakeholders on the Basel Convention website the information received from Parties concerning the national definitions of hazardous wastes.

Notifications:

For further information and to access the notifications received from Parties on national definitions of hazardous wastes, please click here.