Proposed amendments

Amendment of the Basel Convention (Article 17)

There is currently one proposal under consideration for amending paragraph 2 of Article 6 of the Convention by the Russian Federation.

So far, one amendment to the Basel Convention has been adopted by the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The Ban Amendment was adopted by decision III/1, which includes amendments to the preamble, the introduction of a new Article 4A, and the addition of a new Annex VII – more information is available here.

Adoption of new annexes to the Basel Convention (Article 18)

There is currently no proposal under consideration for adding new annexes to the Convention.

Amendment to the annexes to the Basel Convention (Article 18)

Past amendment proposal on Annex IV

At its seventeenth meeting, by decision BC-17/15, the Conference of the Parties adopted an amendment entirely revising Annex IV to the Convention. In its decision, the Conference of the Parties requested the Depositary to communicate the adoption of the amendment to all Parties on 1 July 2029 so that the amendment will become effective on 1 January 2030, pursuant to subparagraphs (b) and (c) of paragraph 2 of Article 18 of the Convention. In addition, in its decision BC-17/16, the Conference of the Parties agreed on some work to be undertaken in follow up to the adoption of the amendment.

Past amendment proposal on e-waste

At its fifteenth meeting, by decision BC-15/18, the Conference of the Parties adopted a proposal by Ghana and Switzerland and other Parties to amend Annexes II, VIII and IX to the Basel Convention in relation to e-waste. For more information on the E-waste amendments, see here.

At its fourteenth meeting, by decision BC-14/12 the Conference of the Parties adopted the Plastic Waste Amendments based on an amendment proposal put forward by Norway.

On 12 October 2018, the Secretariat received from Norway proposals to amend Annexes II, VIII and IX to the Basel Convention, followed by a corrigendum on 19 November 2018. The proposals are set out in annex I to document UNEP/CHW.14/27, while Annex II to the same document shows in tracked changes the proposed amendments to the current texts of Annexes II, VIII and IX. An explanatory note, in the six languages of the United Nations, from Norway is set out in document UNEP/CHW.14/INF/18.

Pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 17 and paragraphs 2 (a) and 3 of Article 18 of the Convention, on 26 October 2018, more than six months before the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the Secretariat communicated the proposals to amend Annexes II, VIII and IX to the Convention to the Parties and signatories to the Convention. A corrigendum to the proposal was subsequently communicated on 6 December 2018. The proposals were also communicated to the depositary for information. The table below sets out comments received from Parties and observers on the proposals. A compilation of comments received from Parties relating to the proposed amendments is set out in document UNEP/CHW.14/INF/17.

For more information on the work under the Convention on marine plastic litter and microplastics, please see here.