View source for UN Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted on 22 March 1989 and entered into force on 5 May 1992  in response to a public outcry following the discovery, in the 1980s, in Africa and other parts of the developing world of deposits of toxic wastes imported from abroad<ref name="Bas">[http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/Overview/History/Overview/tabid/3405/Default.aspx/ Basel Convention]</ref>
[[Category:Legislation & Policy]]

== Overview==

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted on 22 March 1989 and entered into force on 5 May 1992.

The management of [[Hazardous Waste|hazardous wastes]] has been on the international environmental agenda from the early 1980s, when it was included as one of three priority areas in the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) first Montevideo Programme on Environmental Law in 1981. The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (hereinafter referred to as “the Basel Convention”) was adopted in 1989, in response to a public outcry following the discovery, in the 1980s, in Africa and other parts of the developing world of deposits of toxic wastes imported from abroad<ref name="Bas" />.

The Global Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes (known as the Conference of the Plenipotentitaries), convened at the invitation of the Swiss Government from 20 to 22 March 1989 in Basel, and in which 116 States were represented, considered the final draft of the Convention submitted to it by the Working Group.

The Basel Convention was adopted unanimously by the Conference on 22 March 1989. The Conference also adopted eight resolutions related to the further development and the implementation of the Basel Convention.

One hundred and five States and the European Economic Community (EEC) signed the Final Act of the Basel Conference. On 22 March 1990, when the Basel Convention was closed for signature in accordance with its article 21, fifty-three States and the EEC had signed it. It entered into force on 5 May 1992 upon deposit of the twentieth instrument of accession (article 25)<ref name="Bas" />.


==References==
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