19 September 2014: The ninth meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG-9) of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal took decisions on, inter alia: technical guidelines for persistent organic pollutants (POP) and mercury wastes, as well as electrical and electronic waste; a glossary of terms to provide legal clarity; and national reporting. The meeting also advanced work on technical guidelines, legal matters and other issues to facilitate progress at the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 12), scheduled to convene in May 2015.

OEWG-9 took place from 16-19 September 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland. On technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management (ESM) of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with POPs, OEWG-9 took note of the technical guidelines and invites parties and others to provide comments by April 2015.

Regarding the technical guidelines on the ESM of wastes consisting of elemental mercury and wastes containing or contaminated with mercury, OEWG-9 agreed to invite parties to contribute to the guidelines by 30 September 2014, and finalize the guidelines in March 2015.

On the technical guidelines for transboundary movements of electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) and used electrical and electronic equipment, OEWG-9 requests the Secretariat to revise the draft technical guidelines, taking into account comments received by parties and others by 28 February 2015. [IISD RS Meeting Coverage] [Basel Convention Website]