Basel Convention Mandate

(i)  Article 10 of the Basel Convention

A general mandate for international cooperation, including cooperation between the Parties to the Basel Convention and international organizations such as the WTO, is embedded in Article 10 of the Basel Convention related to “international co-operation”:

“1. The Parties shall co-operate with each other in order to improve and achieve environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes and other wastes.

(…)

3. (…) co-operation between Parties and the competent international organizations is encouraged to promote, inter alia, public awareness, the development of sound management of hazardous wastes and other wastes and the adoption of new low-waste technologies”.

(ii) Decision BC-VI/30

  1. Parties to the Basel Convention first specifically referred to and agreed on formalising cooperation with the World Trade Organisation on trade and environment related legal and policy issues in decision BC-VI/30, as adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its sixth meeting, which among others: 

               “(…)
[recognized] that implementation of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal requires consideration all trade related aspects of the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes, including the monitoring of international trade and prevention of illegal trade of hazardous wastes, as well as the export and import licensing systems for hazardous wastes. These trade measures are designed to protect, by strict control, human health and the environment against the adverse effects that may result from the generation and management of hazardous wastes and other wastes,

Mindful of the need to strengthen cooperation between the Basel Convention and the World Trade Organization within their respective mandates,

[Welcomed] the enhanced cooperation between the secretariats of the Basel Convention and the World Trade Organization,
(…)”

            As a result, in the same decision, the Conference of the Parties:

“ (…)

  1. [Requested] the Secretariat of the Basel Convention to:
    (a) Seek observer status in the Committee on Trade and Environment meeting in special session, and to advise the Parties to the Basel Convention when the request has been submitted to and granted by the World Trade Organization;

    (b) Report to the Parties to the Basel Convention on any meetings it attends at the World Trade Organization and any substantive contacts with the World Trade Organization Secretariat and its committee secretariats;

    (c) Monitor developments in the World Trade Organization Committee on Trade and Environment meeting in special session and report to the Parties thereon;
  2. Also [requested] the Secretariat of the Basel Convention, when called upon to provide general information to the World Trade Organization on trade provisions of the Basel Convention, to consult with the Parties to the Basel Convention before providing that information. If the Secretariat of the Basel Convention is requested to provide interpretation on the trade provisions of the Convention, it will refer such requests to the Conference of the Parties”.