New Proposal to Expand Basel Regulation on E-Scrap Exports

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The governments of various countries have demanded amendments to the rules that regulate the international movement of discarded electronic waste.

The documentation submitted by the governments of Ghana and Switzerland ahead of the Basel Convention working group meeting calls for reclassification of certain types of end-of-life electronics and revision  to the regulations that govern movement of those materials between countries.

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As per prevailing international treaty, all hazardous waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) exports must conform to “prior informed consent” procedure, which essentially means that the receiving country must be informed in advance of the shipment details. Meantime, a large number of e-scrap materials are categorized as “non-hazardous”, which does not have to undergo the prior consent procedure. These devices even include printed circuit boards. Also, hazardous materials are shipped under this category in order to bypass the procedural requirements.

The proposal by Ghana and Switzerland calls for modification of the rules so as to bring shipments of non-hazardous electronic waste under the same consent procedure as hazardous materials. The new proposal would enable better tracking and close monitoring of all e-scrap shipments, they said.