Transboundary Movement, and the Basel Convention Behind It

In one line

The Basel Convention translated into Indian rules, and a seven-colour form that follows a drum of waste across a State line.

In exam wording: rule 13 prescribes the procedure for importing hazardous and other wastes, rule 14 for export from India, rule 15 defines illegal traffic and requires re-export at the importer's cost within ninety days, rule 16 governs treatment, storage and disposal facilities, rules 17 and 18 packaging, labelling and transport, rule 19 the seven-copy manifest, rule 20 records and returns, rule 21 the responsibilities of the authorities in Schedule VII, rule 22 accident reporting, rule 23 the liability of the occupier, importer, exporter and operator, and rule 24 the appeal.

The Basel Convention behind it all

What it is. The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, adopted at Basel in March 1989 and in force from May 1992. India is a party.

Why it exists. In the 1980s, tightening environmental standards in industrialised countries made hazardous waste disposal expensive at home and cheap abroad. Waste was shipped to countries with no capacity to handle it, sometimes described as something else, and left there. The Convention was the response.

Its three working ideas, each of which you can find in the Indian Rules.

One, prior informed consent. Hazardous waste may not cross a border unless the importing State has been notified in writing and has consented in writing. Rule 12 requires the prior informed consent of the exporting country for imports of Part A of Schedule III, and of the importing country for exports of Part A and Schedule VI.

Two, minimising transboundary movement, and disposal as close to the source as possible. Rule 12(1)'s flat prohibition on import for disposal is the Indian expression of it.

Three, illegal traffic and the duty to take it back. The Convention makes movement without consent, or by fraud, or in breach of the documents, illegal traffic, and puts the duty to take the waste back on the State of export. Rule 15 does exactly that at the Indian end.

There is a fourth idea worth knowing because examiners ask about it: the Basel Ban Amendment, which prohibits exports of hazardous waste from the wealthier Annex VII countries to all others, entered into force in December 2019. India has not ratified it, and the Indian position is the one in rule 12: import for disposalis banned outright, import for recycling and recoveryis permitted under permission and consent.

Rules 13 and 14: the procedures

Rule 13, import. An actual user intending to import, or to have in transit, wastes in Part A or Part B of Schedule III applies in Form 5 to the Ministry, with the prior informed consent of the exporting country for Part A, and sends a copy simultaneously to the State Pollution Control Board, whose acknowledgement must be submitted with the application.