The Basel Convention regulates the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes to protect human health and the environment. Adopted in 1989 in response to toxic waste dumping in developing countries, it requires parties to ensure wastes are disposed of in an environmentally sound manner and prevents waste transfers from developed to less developed nations. The 190 member countries, including India, aim to reduce hazardous waste and promote its safe management wherever disposal occurs.

2. WHAT IS BASEL CONVENTION?
• Adopted on March 22, 1989 by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Basel,
Switzerland, the “Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal”, generally known as
the Basel Convention, came into force in September 1992.
• The Basel Convention regulates the trans-boundary movements of
hazardous wastes and other wastes and obliges its Parties to ensure that
such wastes are managed and disposed of in an environmentally sound
manner.
• The Convention covers toxic, poisonous, explosive, corrosive, flammable,
eco-toxic and infectious wastes.
• The primary focus of the Basel Convention is on preventing the transfer of
hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries and reducing
the movement of hazardous waste between nations.
• However, this convention does not control the movement of radioactive
waste.

3. What Prompted Basel Convention?
• The Khian Sea waste disposal incident (1986), in which a ship
carrying incinerator ash from the American city of Philadelphia
dropped its load on a Haitian beach (Atlantic) and remaining in
Indian Ocean was one of the events that prompted the Basel
Convention.
• It was in response to a public outcry following the discovery of toxic
waste deposits imported from developed nations to Africa and other
developing countries in the 1980s.

4. Provisions of Basel Convention
• the reduction of hazardous waste generation and the
promotion of environmentally sound management of
hazardous wastes, wherever the place of disposal;
• the restriction of trans-boundary movements of
hazardous wastes except where it is perceived to be in
accordance with the principles of environmentally
sound management; and
• a regulatory system applying to cases where trans-
boundary movements are permissible.

5. Some of the examples of waste that are considered
hazardous under the scope of the Basel Convention:
• Consumed or exhausted lead-acid batteries
• All Biomedical wastes
• Explosive wastes and Utilized Oils
• Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) compounds
• Heat exchange fluids, paint extract, sealants, copy
papers free from carbon and used plastics.
• Harmful chemicals and insecticides persist in the
environment for years.
• Including chemical wastes generated by industries
and consumers.
• Electronic and Electrical waste
• Ships intended for dismantling
• Mercury wastes

7. Basel Convention Member Countries
190 countries of the world are members of the Basel Convention,
including India.
The Basel Convention was signed by India in June 1992, and it went
into effect on September 22, 1992.

8. • 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel
Convention was on , 26 to 30 July 2021 (online segment)
and Geneva, Switzerland, from 6 to 17 June 2022 (face-to-
face segment)
• Motto: "Global Agreements for a Healthy Planet: Sound
management of chemicals and waste".
http://www.basel.int/Home/tabid/2202/Default.aspx

9. Basel Convention - Basel Ban Amendment
• The Basel Ban Amendment is an agreement made by Basel
Convention Parties that forbids the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), the European Union
(EU), and Liechtenstein from exporting hazardous wastes as
defined by the Convention to other nations, mainly developing
or transitional economies.
• Most flammable liquids, most electronic debris, most
outmoded ships, most persistent organic pollutants (POPs),
and most dangerous heavy metals are all included by the Ban
Amendment.
• Plastic, scrap metal, and paper waste won't likely be included
unless they are polluted with or include hazardous waste or
materials.