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This week the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention meets in Geneva. The agenda comprises items such as the challenge of enforcing the provisions of the Basel Convention, the level of controls regarding ship recycling and compliance.
Elaborating further on the topic of Compliance: Detecting illegal traffic of waste and related enforcement seem to become higher priorities within the various institutions and countries. One could think of enforcement in terms of controls and inspections. This is just one part of the chain. What happens when a case of non-compliance is detected? A criminal and / or administrative investigation, prosecution, sentences. Complex and long-term procedures often follow which require detailed and technical knowledge of environmental legislation by inspectors, prosecutors and judges. The Basel Secretariat has proposed to develop an instruction manual on the prosecution of illegal traffic of wastes. A request for comments was placed on their website. Comments have been received from Canada, Mexico, Pakistan and the United States of America. How should this be interpreted? As a low response? In Europe more and more cases regarding illegal shipments of waste are prosecuted and experiences are gained. Why didn’t they respond? Other nations could learn from their experiences. It could be that enforcement does not still have the priority it should have; especially in terms of capacity and resources.