The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal adopted on 22 March 1989 is a very good effort to curb the influx of toxic/ hazardous waste from developed countries to developing countries. The Convention of Parties (COPs), which has been agreed upon by the countries, also aims to establish better toxic/ hazardous waste management control among the members of the party so that treatment and disposal facilities can be used systematically within the country using appropriate technology in an environmentally sound manner.

Malaysia became a party to the Basel Convention on 8 October 1993 and the Department of Environment (DOE) is the designated Competent Authority (CA) of the Basel Convention in Malaysia. As a Party to the Basel Convention, Malaysia has the responsibility to ensure all the provisions of the Convention are fully complied.

DOE plays a very important role in the implementation of the Basel Convention in Malaysia in terms of protecting Malaysia from unwanted hazardous waste, illegal imports and illegal disposal.

Therefore, the national policy regarding the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes are as per below: –

• • Any importation of hazardous wastes for recovery or final disposal purposes is prohibited;
  • The importation of hazardous wastes is only allowed for the purpose of direct reuse or as alternative raw material provided the hazardous waste is not available in the country;
  • The exportation of hazardous wastes is allowed subject to the following conditions:

• • • The importing country has better technology than technology available in Malaysia;
    • The technology in the importing country will results in higher recovery rate than the local recovery facility; or
    • No technical capacity or facility that is capable to recover the wastes in Malaysia.

Malaysia does not allow any importation of hazardous wastes from any party or member of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Commission (EC) and Liechtenstein, in accordance to the Ban Amendment, Basel Convention.

List of Meetings:

• • The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Basel Convention
  • The Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) of the Basel Convention
  • The Regional Preparatory Meeting for COPs for the Asia Pacific Region
  • The Basel Convention Implementation and Compliance Committee (ICC)
  • Other meetings and workshops related to the Basel Convention