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General Obligations of the Bamako Convention



This section provides information on the obligations of the Bamako Convention on contracting African Countries including:

GoTo   Defining Hazardous Waste:
GoTo   Banning the Import of Hazardous Waste, hazardous products and some hazardous technologies:
GoTo   Banning the Dumping of Hazardous Waste at Sea or into Internal Waters:
GoTo   Waste Generation in Africa:
GoTo   The Adoption of Precautionary Measures:
GoTo   Controls over the intra-African trade or the export from Africa of hazardous waste:
GoTo   Other Obligations:

The obligations of this Convention should be seen as closely related to and supportive of other international conventions such a the Basel Convention, the Basel Ban and the Waigani Convention which are intended to control and limit the global transboundary movement of hazardous waste. In particular the obligations are designed to prevent dumping of hazardous waste in Arica by nations outside of Africa (as well as among African nations). These obligations are also intended to drive changes toward clean production and the minimization of hazardous waste that is generated in Africa.





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Defining Hazardous Waste:

The obligations of the Bamako Convention require that member countries (contracting parties) undertake a number of actions in order to comply with the Convention including the following:

Definitions of Hazardous Waste

  • Within 6 months of becoming a Party to the Convention each country is required to pass national legislation and administrative measures providing for a national definition of hazardous waste (Art 3.1)
  • Each party shall then inform the Secretariat of wastes (other than those already listed in Annex I of the convention) that have been defined as hazardous under such legislation and any procedures required for transboundary movement of such wastes. (Art 3.1)
  • Each Party is also responsible for notifying the Secretariat of any changes to definitions of hazardous waste (Art 3.2)
  • The Competent Authorities of any Party to the Convention must ensure that the definitions of hazardous waste are transmitted to exporters and other appropriate bodies (Art 3.4)





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    Banning the Import of Hazardous Waste, hazardous products and some hazardous technologies:


    Hazardous Waste Import Ban

  • Each and all Parties are required to use legal, administrative and other measures to prevent the import of hazardous waste into Africa from non-contracting parties. Import of hazardous waste from non-contracting parties is an illegal and criminal act (Art 4.1)
  • All Parties shall forward information on such illegal waste movements to the Secretariat for distribution to member countries. (Art 4.1(a))
  • All Parties shall co-operate to prevent import of hazardous waste from a non-Party to a Party of this Convention. The Conference of Parties shall consider additional enforcement measures to prevent such imports (Art 4.1 (b))





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    Banning the Dumping of Hazardous Waste at Sea or into Internal Waters:


    Ban on Dumping

  • Each Party shall take all legal measures to prevent non-Party carriers from dumping hazardous waste within their jurisdiction whether that be within their internal waters, territorial seas, exclusive economic zones and continental shelf. This includes prohibition of dumping on or below the sea-bed as well as all forms of incineration at sea. Any such waste dumping activity by a Contracting Party in any of these locations or upon the high seas is considered illegal. Any information of such activity must be immediately forwarded to the Secretariat for distribution to Contracting Parties (Art 4.2).





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    Waste Generation in Africa:


  • Each Party shall ensure that hazardous waste generators within their jurisdiction submit reports detailing the nature and volume of the wastes they generate to allow the Secretariat to produce a hazardous waste audit for all member countries and to assist in evaluating progress on any reductions in waste generation (Art 4.3)
  • Each Party shall impose strict, unlimited liability as well as joint and several liability on hazardous waste generators in accordance with the 'polluter-pays' principle.
  • Each Party shall ensure that hazardous waste generation within its jurisdiction is reduced to a minimum.
  • Each Party shall ensure that environmentally sound treatment and disposal facilities for hazardous wastes are located, to the extent possible, within its jurisdiction.
  • Each Party shall ensure that persons managing hazardous wastes take all actions necessary to prevent pollution arising from the management of such wastes and to minimize the impacts of such waste in the event of pollution occurring (Art 4.3).





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    The Adoption of Precautionary Measures:


    The Bamako Convention incorporates important and progressive principles that are crucial to ecologically sustainable development of countries in economic transition. In order to avoid the pollution problems that have historically been common in developed countries it is important that developing countries avoid older polluting technology paths and where possible adopt clean, non-polluting technologies and practices.

    The Bamako Convention incorporates both the precautionary principle which permits action to prevent pollution releases in the absence of absolute scientific proof that environmental harm may result. It also requires a commitment to actions and measures to support encourage and promote cleaner production technologies.

    In particular the Convention requires that each Party shall:

  • Implement the preventive, precautionary approach to pollution problems and cooperate with other Parties in the application of clean production methods, rather than the pursuit of a permissible emissions approach based on assimilative capacity assumptions. (Art 4.3 (f))

    In other words, contracting Parties should carefully select industrial processes and technologies which have the lowest possible potential to cause pollution rather than establishing technologies that require a 'license to pollute' and then try to calculate how much pollution the local environment and population can tolerate.

    In this respect each contacting Party has an obligation to consider the entire life cycle of products and apply clean production methods to:

  • raw material selection, extraction and processing;
  • product conceptualisation, design, manufacture and assemblage;
  • materials transport during all phases;
  • industrial and household usage;
  • reintroduction of the product into industrial systems or nature when it no longer serves a useful function;

    The Convention also makes it clear that 'pollution control' devices such as filters and scrubbers do not constitute clean production. It also makes it clear that dilution of pollutants, transfer from one environmental media to another (e.g. dumping in a river instead of a landfill) or volume reduction through incineration are not clean production (Art 4.3 (f & g)).





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    Controls over the intra-African trade or the export from Africa of hazardous waste:


    Controls

  • Each Party shall prevent exports of hazardous waste to countries which have banned the import of hazardous waste (under national or international law) or if they believe the waste will not be managed in an environmentally sound manner at its destination. (Art 4.3 (i)).

  • Each Party shall prevent the export of hazardous waste to a country that is known to lack facilities in which to treat the waste in an environmentally sound manner. (Art 4.3 (j)).

  • Each party shall ensure that hazardous wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner in the States of transit and import. (Art 4.3 (k)).

  • No Party shall export hazardous waste for disposal in the area South of 60 degrees South Latitude (Art 4.3 (l)).

  • Each Party shall only permit persons to transport, store or dispose of hazardous wastes if such persons are authorized or allowed to perform such operations (Art 4.3 (m)(i)).

  • Each Party shall ensure that hazardous wastes that are to be the subject of a transboundary movement are packaged, labelled, and transported in conformity with generally accepted and recognized international rules and standards in the field of packaging, labelling, and transport (Art 4.3 (m)(ii)).

  • Each Party shall ensure that hazardous wastes be accompanied by a movement document, containing information specified in Annex IV B, from the point at which a transboundary movement commences to the point of disposal (Art 4.3 (m)(iii)).

  • Parties may only permit the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes if the state of export does not have the technical capacity and the necessary facilities, capacity or suitable disposal sites in order to dispose of the wastes in question in an environmentally sound manner (Art 4.3 (n)(i)).

  • If this Convention requires a State generating hazardous waste to treat or dispose of that waste (because that State has the ability to do so) then such an obligation cannot be transferred to a State of transit or import (Art 4.3 o)

  • Each Party is obliged to undertake regular reviews to seek ways to reduce the volume and/or toxicity of waste which it exports to other countries.

  • Each party exercising their right to prohibit the import of hazardous wastes for disposal shall inform the other Parties of their decision pursuant to Article 13 of this Convention (Art 4.3 (q)).

  • All Parties shall prohibit the export of hazardous waste to a State of import unless it has been provided with written consent from that State (even if the State of import has not prohibited the import of hazardous waste) (Art 4.3 (s)).

  • Any Party exporting hazardous waste must ensure that the information required in Annex IV A is provided to the States concerned (transit and import States) with clear information on potential environmental and human health impacts of the proposed movement(Art 4.3 (u)).

  • Each Party is required to establish a Competent Authority, focal point and Dumpwatch within its system of governance to carry out the obligations of the Convention. (Art 5.1 and 5.4)

  • A State of export must notify all States of transit and import of any proposed hazardous waste export. (Art 6.1)

  • A State of import or transit must respond to the notice of the State of export either accepting the transit or import (with or without conditions) or rejecting movement of waste. (Art 6.2)

  • A state of export must use a specific notification to all concerned States for each and every shipment of waste irrespective of whether the shipments are of the same material and through the same access points, agents, and ports and so on. (Art 6.6)

  • All Parties to this Convention shall require that each person who takes charge of a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes sign the movement document either upon delivery or receipt of the wastes in question and upon completion of the disposal of the wastes. (Art 6.8)

  • Each state of Export is required to ensure that the movement of waste is covered by insurance that is satisfactory to the State of transit and import.

  • Countries which are affected by transit of import of wastes and who are not Parties to the Convention, must complete the notification procedures as if they were Parties to the Convention (Art 7).

  • Each exporting Party shall ensure that where a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes cannot be completed, the wastes are returned to the exporter (Art 8).

  • Each Party shall introduce national legislation that imposes criminal sanctions on persons involved in the illegal transboundary movement of hazardous waste. (Art 9.2)

  • If a movement of hazardous waste is found to be illegal then the hazardous waste must be returned to the State of export (Art 9.3 & 9.4).





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    Other Obligations:


  • Parties are obliged to share information on clean production practices with other African nations and cooperate on the transfer and implementation of technologies that assist in achieving clean production (Art 10.2)

  • Parties are also obliged to cooperate with other Parties in building technical capacity, technology transfer and the monitoring of health and environmental effects of hazardous waste (Art 10.2)

  • Parties are also obliged to notify the Secretariat of any bilateral, multilateral, or regional agreements or arrangements regarding the transboundary movement and management of hazardous wastes generated in Africa.

  • Each Party shall inform the Secretariat of any accidents involving the transboundary movement and management of hazardous wastes (Art 13.1)



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