30 November 2012: The Basel Convention Secretariat has posted a draft glossary of terms for comment that is intended as a first step toward developing guidance on the interpretation of key terminology used in the Convention and other terms related to the Convention’s implementation.

As requested by the Convention’s Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG), the Secretariat posted the draft glossary and invited parties and others to provide comments on it and on voluntary and legally-binding options for the interpretation of terms, by 15 February 2013 so that the Secretariat can consider the input when preparing its report on the issue for discussion by COP11 when it meets in April 2013.

The draft glossary is part of follow-up to Decision 10/3 adopted by the 10th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP10) in October 2011, which noted that “a number of the provisions of the Convention are interpreted differently by parties and that the implementation and application of these provisions would benefit from additional legal clarity.”

As requested by the COP10 Decision, the draft glossary provides definitions for “waste,” “non-waste,” “hazardous wastes,” “non-hazardous wastes,” “reuse,” “direct reuse,” “refurbishment,” “second-hand goods,” “used goods” and “end-of-life goods.” As much as possible the definitions have been aligned with terms used in other guidelines developed under the Basel Convention. Other terms in the draft glossary not specifically requested by the COP include “major reassembly,” “recycling,” “used electrical and electronic equipment (UEEE)” and “waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).” [Secretariat Note] [Draft glossary of terms]