WASTE CRIME – WASTE RISKS

Legal frameworks
The cross-border movement and management of wastes are regulated by a number
of international, regional, and national legislative frameworks.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (Basel
Convention) is the major international agreement that regulates
the transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous
and other wastes. It entered into force in 1992 and has, as
of 15 April 2015, 183 Parties. The overarching objective of the
Basel Convention is to protect human health and the environment
against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes. The
provisions of the Convention centre around the following
principal aims: the reduction of hazardous waste generation
and the promotion of environmentally sound management of
hazardous wastes wherever the place of disposal; the restriction
of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes, except
where it is perceived to be in accordance with the principles
of environmentally sound management; and a regulatory
system applying to cases where transboundary movements
(import, transit, and export) are permissible.
The Basel Convention is one of the few multilateral environmental
agreements to define an illegal activity under the
Convention as a crime.
Article 4.3 of the Basel Convention:
“The Parties consider that illegal traffic in hazardous wastes
or other wastes is a crime.”
Article 9 of the Basel Convention:
“For the purpose of this Convention, any transboundary
movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes:
(a) without notification pursuant to the provisions of this
Convention to all States concerned; or
(b) without the consent pursuant to the provisions of this
Convention of a State concerned; or
(c) with consent obtained from States concerned through
falsification, misrepresentation or fraud; or
(d) that does not conform in a material way with the documents;
or
(e) that results in deliberate disposal (e.g. dumping) of
hazardous wastes or other wastes in contravention of this
Convention and of general principles of international law,
shall be deemed to be illegal traffic.”
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