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.
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.
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:
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.
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.