Basel Convention on transboundary movements of hazardous wastes
The 1989 UN convention controlling transboundary waste movement, and the gate it creates at IMSBC Code section 10.4 for solid wastes carried in bulk.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, adopted in 1989, is the international instrument governing the movement of hazardous and other wastes between States. It works through a prior informed consent regime: an export cannot proceed until the competent authority of the State of export has notified the State of import and holds that State’s written consent.
The IMSBC Code hooks into it directly. Section 10.4 states that a transboundary movement of solid wastes in bulk may commence only when notification has been sent by the competent authority of the country of origin, or by the generator or exporter through that authority, to the country of final destination, and when that origin authority, having received written consent from the destination stating the wastes will be safely incinerated or otherwise disposed of, has authorized the movement. Section 10.5 requires a waste movement document to accompany the shipment from start to disposal, available at all times to competent authorities and everyone involved.
IMSBC section 10.2.1 sets the scope for the Code’s purposes, covering solid bulk cargoes containing or contaminated with constituents subject to the Code’s class 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 6.1, 8 or 9 provisions for which no direct use is envisaged. The full article will cover the convention’s structure, the amendments to it and how it interacts with ship recycling and with MARPOL.