Basel Convention

Choose the Correct Answer

Correct Answer : Option c

Explanation
Statement 1 is correct: The Basel Convention is first and foremost a global environmental treaty that strictly regulates the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and provides an obligation for Parties to ensure their environmentally sound management (ESM) and their disposal. The governing body of the Basel Convention is the Conference of the Parties (COP) that is composed of all governments that have ratified the Convention or acceded to it. As of January 1, 2025, hazardous and non-hazardous e-waste and scrap are subject to Basel Convention requirements. In other words, Basel Party countries exporting e-waste and scrap must obtain the importing country's agreement in writing to accept such exports before allowing the shipments to depart the country, a procedure known as prior informed consent. Additional Basel Convention requirements also apply. Historically, only hazardous e-waste was controlled, and non-hazardous e-waste could generally be traded freely.

Statement 2 is not correct: The Basel Convention does not cover radioactive waste. Such waste is regulated under other international frameworks, like the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

Statement 3 is correct: India became a party to the Basel Convention in 1992 itself, and since then, has rallied for various provisions of the Convention as its foreign policy priority. India enacted the Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules in 1989 under the mandate of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), even before the Basel Convention came into the picture, to regulate the transboundary and internal movement of hazardous wastes. After ratifying the Convention, India upgraded the Hazardous Waste rules in 2000 and 2003, and finally, in 2008, the MoEFCC released the final notification of the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling, and Transboundary Movement) Rules, in line with the Basel provisions. The 2008 rules were once amended in 2016 as well.