Workshop on Prevention of Illegal Transboundary Movement of Wastes
December 7 - 8, 2004, Tokyo, Japan
Chair's Summary
Chair: Mr. Hiroki Hashizume
- The Workshop on Prevention of Illegal Transboundary Movement of Wastes was
held with 26 participants mainly from Competent Authorities of the Basel
Convention in Tokyo on December 7 - 8, 2004. I presided over the workshop.
- At the Opening Ceremony, Minister of the Environment, Ms. Yuriko Koike
delivered the opening address in which she noted that in order to prevent
adverse effects on the environment and to ensure proper transboundary movement
of recyclables, it is important to strengthen cooperation between countries by
exchanging information. Minister Koike also encouraged the participants to make
good use of the existing framework of the Basel Convention and expressed her
expectation that the Workshop set off an enhanced cooperation among the Asian
countries to address the common concern on movements of recyclables or wastes.
- After self-introduction of the participants, the representative from Ministry
of the Environment of Japan presented the workshop objective that is the plan to
establish the Asian Network for Prevention of Illegal Transboundary Movement of
Wastes (hereinafter referred to as the Network). The Network aims to strengthen
the capacity of the participating countries in implementing the Basel Convention
and to establish a network of the participating countries so as to exchange
information. A series of this type of workshops will be held as a part of the
Network activities.
- During Session 1, the participants shared experiences and difficulties in
implementing the Basel Convention. The participating countries as well as the
Basel Convention Regional Centers (BCRCs) in China and Indonesia presented and
discussed the institutional arrangements for implementing the Basel Convention,
the current import and export volumes of hazardous wastes under the Basel
Convention, and challenges that they are facing. It was a wonderful opportunity
for the participants to give a presentation on current situation of their own
countries and to share information since they rarely have face-to-face contact
with each other. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the
participating countries and BCRCs China and Indonesia in taking time to prepare
their presentation despite their busy schedule.
- During Session 2, the participants discussed export and import of hazardous
wastes under the disguise of second-hand commodities and manipulating hazardous
wastes as non-hazardous wastes. Several participants pointed out that the import
of hazardous electronic waste for recycling in their countries caused
significant environmental impacts, as most of these countries did not have
suitable recycling or disposal facilities for the waste. Representatives from
the participating countries presented their experiences based on the incidents
that have occurred in their countries. I noted that the legal frameworks to
regulate second-hand commodities vary by country; some countries apply the Basel
Convention and others formulate their own national laws or regulations. Thus
there are difficulties to have effective measures to control transboundary
movement of wastes including hazardous wastes. It is also important to share
relevant information among participating countries. The representative from Hong
Kong introduced a network for voluntary information exchange about transfrontier
shipments of wastes which are conducted mainly in EU countries (IMPEL-TFS) and
are currently implemented by Hong Kong. The participants recognized that IMPEL-TFS
framework could be an effective tool or system to prevent illegal transboundary
movement of wastes in Asia.
- During Session 3, the participants reviewed and discussed the draft terms of
reference (hereinafter referred to as draft TOR) and the draft website map for
the Network. Some opinions regarding the needs of strengthening the linkage with
such entities as secretariats for international treaties (e.g. Basel Convention)
and customs and port authority in each country were stated. The draft TOR was finally adopted as attached. As for the draft website map, some participants
proposed that the information and the linkage to the website of relevant
organizations should be listed. The Secretariat will revise the draft website
map and then upload the draft website within the first quarter of 2005. The
participants agreed to add "hazardous" before "waste" in the title of the
Network in order to address our priority. I would like to express my deep
appreciation for the constructive opinion and cooperation by each participant in
finalizing the TOR. The Network activities will be conducted based on the
adopted TOR.
- During Session 4, the workshop also provided the participants with an
opportunity to deepen their understandings on actions to be taken to promote 3Rs
(reduce, reuse, and recycle) in Japan. The representative from Ministry of the
Environment of Japan presented and distributed the information sheet on the
Ministerial Conference on 3R Initiative proposed by Japan and agreed upon as a
new G8 initiative at the G8 Summit held in 2004. The Conference will be held in
Japan in April 2005. In this Session, the participants agreed that the regional
approach will be necessary to cope with the emerging issues such as E-wastes
generation and their movements in the Asian region.
- During the workshop, the participants shared good practices and acknowledged
proposals to prevent illegal transboundary movement of hazardous wastes as
follows: for the prevention of export and import of hazardous wastes under the
disguise of second-hand commodities, the following suggestions were proposed
from some participating countries: 1) an import permit is issued only to the
importers that have conducted good practices and have had the capacity to manage
it, 2) second-hand commodities i.e., TV sets, refrigerators, etc within a
certain service years will be allowed to be imported, 3) residues generated from
recycling of the imported second-hand commodities are shipped back to the
country of origin for treatment if the local facilities cannot manage the
residues, 4) in order to take proper actions, it is necessary to promptly share
information about suspicious import or export cases and establish cooperative
relationship between central and local governments, and 5) since human and
financial resources of governments to monitor illegal practices are limited,
increasing public awareness is important so that local communities complement
the government monitoring. Further, in order to ensure the sustainable operation
of the Network, the participants agreed that the Secretariat of the Basel
Convention is expected to explore funding source. In this regard, the Government
of Japan will cooperate and collaborate with the Secretariat of the Basel
Convention and BCRCs for necessary support.
- As the workshop covered a number of topics, promoted information exchange
among the participants, and had constructive and fruitful discussions toward the
establishment of the Network, holding of international workshops in the
participating countries next year and thereafter has been supported by all the
participants to further enhance their understanding about implementation of the
Basel Convention and promotion of 3Rs. In summing up the workshop, it was a
precious and meaningful opportunity for those in charge of implementation of the
Basel Convention to gather and discuss our concerns. The Chairman would like to
ask your continued support and cooperation for the establishment of the Network.
Back to Japanese Press Release