Share meeting
Files
Mindful of decision BC-13/17 on the work programme and operations of the Open-ended Working Group for the biennium 2018–2019 relevant to the work of the Committee Administering the Mechanism for Promoting Implementation and Compliance on electronic approaches to the notification and movement documents,
1.Takes note of the note by the Secretariat on the work of the Committee Administering the Mechanism for Promoting Implementation and Compliance and the recommendations made therein1 and welcomes the work undertaken by the Committee since the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
2.Encourages Parties concerned by a submission covered by the decisions adopted by the Committee at its twelfth meeting to cooperate with the Committee with a view to resolving the matter of concern;
3.Encourages the Committee, in the framework of specific submissions regarding Party implementation and compliance, to continue to inform the relevant Parties about possible means of assistance from the implementation fund and from other sources, such as the United Nations Environment Programme special programme on institutional strengthening,2 in accordance with the integrated approach to financing the sound management of chemicals and waste;3
4.Takes note of the report on the review of the operation of the implementation fund;4
5.Notes that the objective of the special programme on institutional strengthening is to support country-driven institutional strengthening at the national level, in the context of an integrated approach to financing of the sound management of chemicals and wastes, which will facilitate and enable the implementation of the Basel Convention, among other instruments;
6.Expresses its appreciation to the Committee for its efforts to assist with the resolution of matters of concern with regard to the implementation of and compliance with the Convention, including by recommending to the Secretariat the use of resources from the implementation fund to finance activities listed in the ten compliance action plans submitted by concerned Parties in respect of specific submissions and approved by the Committee;
7.Notes that resources in the implementation fund have to date been used to assist seven Parties to implement their compliance action plans and have enabled three Parties to return to compliance with the obligation to submit national reports pursuant to paragraph 3 of Article 13 of the Convention;
8.Welcomes the slight improvement in the completeness of national reports since 2010 and the positive trend towards an improvement in the timeliness of national reports since 2010;
(a)The targets for the year 2013 approved by the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting with regard to the timeliness and completeness of national reports have not been met, with 22 per cent of reports submitted on time against a target of 30 per cent and 7 per cent of reports submitted complete against a target of 20 per cent;
(b)As at 31 October 2016, 94 Parties had not submitted their reports for the year 2013;5
10.Acknowledges that the problem of non-reporting, incomplete reporting or late reporting is all the more serious because of the close link between the core obligations of the Convention and the obligation to submit national reports in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 13 of the Convention;
11.Sets, as a way of measuring progress in the overall implementation of and compliance with paragraph 3 of Article 13 of the Convention, the following interim targets: 10 per cent of reports due for 2014 and 2015 are complete and submitted on time and 20 per cent of reports due for 2014 and 2015 are complete as submitted but late;
12.Decides that, in undertaking the classification of compliance with the national reporting obligation for the years 2014 and beyond, the Committee will:
(a)Classify, for its own consideration under its general review powers, Parties on the basis of two criteria: timeliness and completeness of their reports, and in the five categories as follows:
(b)Classify, for its own consideration under its general review powers, Parties on the basis of the following assumptions:
(i)Information reported by Parties is presumed to reflect reality, without prejudice to quality control by the Secretariat;
(ii)The completeness of national reports will be reviewed on the basis of the answers provided by Parties to all questions and sub-questions of the revised reporting format,6 with the exception of questions and tables that are designated as optional;
(iii)Should a report contain answers that do not provide the information sought (such as “in preparation”, “no data available” or “no information”), the Party providing such answers will not be considered to have submitted a complete report;
(iv)Should a report contain answers that provide information sought that is “provisional” or “estimated”, the Party providing such answers will be considered to have submitted a complete report.
National reporting: additional steps to improve the timeliness and completeness of national reporting
13.Decides to prioritize efforts and ongoing activities to increase the timeliness and completeness of national reporting and calls on Parties to strengthen their efforts in that regard;
14.Expresses its appreciation to the Committee for its work over the years to improve the timeliness and completeness of national reporting and decides that the work programme of the Committee should continue to emphasize activities aimed at improving implementation and compliance with the national reporting obligation;
15.Adopts the guidance on the implementation of the Basel Convention provisions dealing with illegal traffic (paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of Article 9)7 and encourages Parties to use it and to provide information to the Secretariat on their experiences with the guidance for the consideration of the Committee;
16.Invites Parties, in particular Parties that have not submitted to the Secretariat their legislation for implementing the Basel Convention, to undertake a review of their implementing legislation, using the legislator’s checklist,8 and to submit the outcome of their review to the Committee for its consideration;
17.Adopts the revisions to question 3 of the revised reporting format for Basel Convention national reporting adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting9 and the revisions to the standardized reporting format for transmitting information under paragraphs 1 (a) and (b) of Article 4 and paragraphs 2 (c) and (d) of Article 13 of the Convention (import and export prohibitions);10
(a)To inform the Secretariat of any change regarding the designation of competent authorities within one month of the date of the decision by which such change is effected, as provided for in paragraph 3 of Article 5 of the Convention;
(b)To promptly acknowledge receipt of notifications of proposed transit transboundary movements, as provided for in paragraph 4 of Article 6 of the Convention;
(c)Of any State of export to not allow a transboundary movement to commence until it has received the written consent of the State of transit, as provided for in paragraph 4 of Article 6 of the Convention;
(a)That if at any time a Party decides, pursuant to the fourth sentence of paragraph 4 of Article 6, not to require prior written consent, either generally or under specific conditions, for transit transboundary movements of hazardous wastes or other wastes, or modifies its requirements in that respect, it shall forthwith inform the other Parties of its decision pursuant to Article 13 of the Convention;
(b)That in case a Party has decided not to require prior written consent for proposed transit transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and other wastes and no response is received by a State of export within 60 days of the receipt of a given notification by the State of transit the State of export may allow the export to proceed through the State of transit;
(a)To respond to notifications of proposed transit transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and other wastes within 60 days in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 6 of the Convention;
(b)To ensure that the contact details of competent authorities, including e-mail addresses, are complete and up to date;
21.Welcomes the work of the Committee on electronic approaches to the notification and movement documents;11
22.Adopts the revision to question 1a of the revised reporting format and to the revised form for notification of designation of country contacts12 andinvites the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention and the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention, at their eighth meetings, to take note of the change to the former;
23.Approves the work programme of the Committee for the biennium 2018–2019 set out in the annex to the present decision;
24.Invites Parties to submit comments on the revised version of the Committee’s guidance on improving national reporting,13 the guide for the development of national legal frameworks to implement the Basel Convention14 and the guidance to improve the implementation of paragraph 11 of Article 6 of the Convention15 to the Secretariat by 30 September 2017 for consideration by the Committee;
(a)To establish priorities, work methods and schedules for the activities in its work programme, to coordinate with the Secretariat and the Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres to avoid duplication of activities and to consult Parties and others on certain issues as appropriate;
(b)To consult Parties, in advance of the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, on a draft work programme for 2020–2021;
(c)To report to the Conference of the Parties at its fourteenth meeting on the work that it has carried out to fulfil its functions in accordance with paragraphs 23 and 24 of the terms of reference of the mechanism for promoting implementation of and compliance with the Basel Convention;
26.Elects, in accordance with the terms of reference set out in the appendix to decision VI/12, the following members to serve on the Committee Administering the Mechanism for Promoting Implementation and Compliance of the Basel Convention until the close of the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties:
| African States: | Mr. Leonard Leswam Tampushi (Kenya) |
| Asia-Pacific States: | Mr. Ali Al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) |
| Central and Eastern European States: | Mr. Artak Khachatryan (Armenia) |
| Latin American and Caribbean States: | Mr. Mario Miranda (Ecuador) |
| Western European and other States: | Ms. Christine Vignon (France) |