Fifteenth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention (OEWG-15)

Geneva, Switzerland, from 23 to 26 June 2026

Venue: Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG), 17 rue de Varembé, Geneva, Switzerland.

Highlights: The fifteenth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group took place from Tuesday, 23 June to Friday, 26 June 2026, with pre-meetings, including Bureau and regional meetings, held on Monday, 22 June.

Overall, 450 participants attended the meeting, including 306 representatives from 138 Parties to the Basel Convention and 144 observers. The Working Group met in plenary session, with part of the meeting allocated to contact groups on strategic, technical and legal matters.

Nineteen decisions were adopted, setting out the intersessional work to be undertaken in preparation for the eighteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties in 2027. The decisions covered, among other matters, the prior informed consent procedure, technical guidelines, national reporting, electronic approaches to the notification and movement documents, plastic waste, used textiles and textile wastes, legal clarity, the Basel Convention Partnership Programme, cooperation with the World Customs Organization and cooperation with the International Maritime Organization.

The Governments of Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway and Switzerland kindly funded the participation of eligible Party delegates in the meeting.

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Susan Wingfield, Secretariat of the Basel Convention (e-mail: susan.wingfield@un.org).