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1.0 Introduction
1.1 History of the Basel Convention
Since the beginning of the 20 th century the world has experienced
unprecedented industrialisation and economic growth. New discoveries,
techniques and technologies formed a basis for accelerated development
in the chemical field. This situation resulted into generation of hazardous
waste at a rate, which is now 400 million tones (metric), every year
worldwide. In the late 1980’s tightening of environmental regulations in
industrialized countries led to a dramatic rise in the cost of hazardous
wastes disposal. In search for cheaper ways to get rid of the wastes,
traders begun shipping hazardous waste to developing countries and
Eastern Europe where the disposal costs were low. Therefore,
transboundary movements of hazardous wastes have become a global
problem because developing countries have limited capacity to handle
hazardous waste in an environmentally sound manner including proper
disposal facilities.
As a result, international outrage on the transboundary movements and
disposal of hazardous wastes led to the drafting and adoption of the Basel
Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and their Disposal. This global environmental treaty was
developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and was adopted by the Conference of
Plenipotentiaries in Basel, Switzerland on 22 nd March 1989. One hundred
and sixteen states were present. The Convention came into force on 5 th
May 1992. Todate 164 States and European Union are Parties to this
Convention.
During its First Decade (1989-1999), the Convention was principally
devoted to setting up a framework for controlling the “transboundary”
movements of hazardous wastes across international frontiers. It also
developed the criteria for “environmentally sound management”. A control
system, based on prior written notification, was also put in place. More
importantly several technical guidelines on environmentally sound
management of hazardous wastes were developed. Some have been
adopted by the Conference of the Parties. Others are still in the process.
The fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties adopted a Protocol on
liability and compensation for damage resulting from transboundary
movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal. The objective is to
provide for a comprehensive regime for liability and for adequate and
prompt compensation for damage resulting from the transboundary
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