Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
A model example: chemical regimes
Three UNEP-connected chemical treaties have established close cooperation:
the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention on the
Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and
Pesticides in International Trade, 2 and the Stockholm Convention on
Persistent Organic Pollutants. Their common goal is to protect human health
and the environment from hazardous chemicals and wastes. The cooperation
and coordination of the practical implementation of these three treaty regimes
provides an example for other international treaty regimes, proving that syner-
gies can be created between treaty regimes where their regulatory functions
are overlapping.
The Basel Convention 3 was adopted in 1989 and entered into force in 1992
as the fi rst of these three conventions related to hazardous chemicals and pesti-
cides. There was an underlying fear that businesses in industrial countries were
transporting their hazardous wastes to developing countries. The Convention
aims at reducing the generation of hazardous waste, improving its environ-
mentally sustainable management and limiting its transboundary movement,
unless it is environmentally sustainable. The Convention does not itself ban
transporting hazardous waste from OECD countries to developing countries.
The Basel Convention meeting of the parties in 1994 introduced the ban,
which was later adopted as an amendment. The amendment, however, has not
entered into force yet, although the tenth meeting of the parties in October
2011 brought this closer to reality.
The Convention prohibits the transportation of hazardous waste to Antarctica,
any non-member state, or a state that has banned the import of hazardous waste.
The Convention also establishes a regulatory mechanism for transporting
hazardous waste to another country when this is permissible according to the
Convention. The authorities in the exporting country must notify the import-
ing country and any transit countries in writing in advance, giving the details of
the planned transportation. Exporting hazardous waste is permitted only if both
the transit countries and the importing country agree in writing.
The Rotterdam Convention was adopted in 1998 and entered into force in
2004. The pressure to negotiate the Convention came partly from the fear that
hazardous chemicals were being transported without controls to developing
countries, and partly from the exponential increase in the export and import
of chemicals. The parties to the Rotterdam Convention are obligated to
obtain prior informed consent when exporting Annex III substances. The
parties also commit themselves to informing the target country of the export
of chemicals not listed in Annex III which are otherwise nationally banned or
strictly controlled. The prior consent procedure is not applicable in these cases.
Any additions to the list of chemicals in Annex III are proposed to the
meeting of parties by the Rotterdam Convention Chemical Review
Committee (CRC); additions require the consensus agreement of the parties.
 
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