Amendments to the Basel Convention (January 2025)

28 January 2025
3 minute read
ITAM News & Analysis

Amendments to the Basel Convention (January 2025)

28 January 2025
3 minute read

On January 1, 2025, significant amendments to the Basel Convention concerning electronic waste (e-waste) came into force, marking a further evolution in global environmental governance. The changes aim to enhance the regulation of international movements of e-waste, ensuring more stringent controls to protect human health and the environment and support circularity efforts.

Background on the Basel Convention

Established in 1989, the Basel Convention is an international treaty designed to regulate international movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal. Its primary objective is to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of hazardous waste management. During the years, the Convention has evolved to address emerging environmental challenges, including the rapid increase in e-waste resulting from technological advancements.

Overview of the E-Waste Amendments

During the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) in June 2022, amendments to Annexes II, VIII, and IX of the Basel Convention were adopted to expand the scope of control over e-waste.

These amendments, effective January 1, 2025, introduce the following key changes:

  • Annex II (Wastes Requiring Special Consideration): A new requirement has been added to cover all e-wastes, their components, and wastes from e-waste processing (e.g., fractions from shredding) not listed under Annex VIII.
  • Annex VIII (Wastes Presumed to be Hazardous): The existing entry A1180 has been replaced with a new entry, A1181, which encompasses hazardous e-wastes, their components, and wastes from e-waste processing.
  • Annex IX (Wastes Presumed Not to be Hazardous): Entries B1110 (e-wastes) and B4030 (single-use cameras) have been deleted, indicating these wastes are no longer presumed to be non-hazardous and are now subject to control measures.

Implications of the Amendments

The primary objective of these amendments is to subject all e-waste to the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure, a regulatory mechanism that requires exporting countries to obtain consent from importing countries before proceeding with the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes. This ensures recipient countries are fully informed and have agreed to the import, thereby promoting environmentally sound management of e-waste globally.

By broadening the scope of controlled e-waste, the amendments aim to curb the illegal dumping of electronic waste in developing countries, a practice that has led to severe environmental degradation and health hazards. The inclusion of non-hazardous e-waste under the PIC procedure addresses concerns that such waste, when improperly managed, can pose significant risks.

These changes echo those made recently by TCO Certified regarding classification of harmful chemicals. TCO now regards chemicals to be unsafe unless proven to be safe, just as PIC requires the recipient of exported e-waste to agree to receive it before it leaves the source country or region.

Global Response and Implementation

The amendments are binding for all Parties to the Basel Convention, except those that submitted a notification of non-acceptance by January 1, 2025. Countries worldwide have been preparing to align their national regulations with the new requirements.

About AJ Witt

A former IT Asset Manager, AJ is Industry Analyst for The ITAM Review. He's interested in hearing from end users of ITAM tools and also vendors. He enjoys writing about the SaaS Management market, practical aspects of ITAM operations, and the strategy of major software publishers. You can connect via email (aj.witt@itassetmanagement.net) or LinkedIn. AJ is based in the New Forest where he enjoys cycling, walking, spending time with his family, and keeping chickens

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