Department of Environment > Basel Convention

BASEL CONVENTION

  • The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is an international treaty that provides an obligation to control the transboundary movements and disposal of hazardous wastes.
  • Malaysia has become a party of the Basel Convention on 8th October 1993 and the Department of Environment (DOE) is the designated competent authority of 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.
  • Therefore, the national policy regarding the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes are as per below:-
  1. Any importation of hazardous wastes for recovery or final disposal purposes is prohibited;
  2. 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;
  3. The exportation of hazardous wastes is allowed subject to the following conditions:

     

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

       

  4. 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.
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