ABSTRACT
The 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is the main global agreement governing the trade and management of wastes hazardous to human health and the environment. It was mainly movements from industrialized to developing countries and related environmental and human health risks that led to treaty negotiations in the 1980s. The Basel Convention is one of the first global environmental agreements to mandate “prior informed consent” where an exporting party must receive approval from the importing party before a shipment of hazardous wastes can proceed. The parties have developed technical guidelines for environmentally safe storage and disposal of hazardous wastes. The 1995 Ban Amendment prohibits the export of hazardous wastes for final disposal and recycling from countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the EU as well as Liechtenstein to all other parties.
