12 December 2012: Côte d’Ivoire held its National Planning and Inception Meeting for a project to assist the country in preparing to ratify the Basel Convention’s Ban Amendment. The meeting, held on 12 December 2012, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, aimed to raise awareness among national stakeholders of the Basel Convention and the Basel Convention Ban Amendment.

Hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, with technical support provided by the UN Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) and financed by Switzerland, the meeting was attended by 19 participants from both the public and private sectors. The Meeting for the project “Implications of ratification of the Basel Convention Ban Amendment for Côte d’Ivoire” discussed project activities and roles and responsibilities of the different stakeholders. The project will develop a situation and gap analysis for Côte d’Ivoire relating to the import of hazardous wastes related to the Ban Amendment and implications of the Amendment for the country’s legal regime and regulatory practices, along with a legal analysis of the Amendment ratification steps for the country, and draft legal text for ratification.

The Ban Amendment calls for Parties in Basel Convention Annex VII – Member States of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), EC and Liechtenstein – to ban transboundary movements to non-Annex VII countries of hazardous wastes covered by the Convention that are intended for final disposal, and of all transboundary movements to such countries of hazardous wastes destined for reuse, recycling or recovery operations.

The Côte d’Ivoire project is one of several planned as a result of a decision adopted by the Basel Convention’s 10th Conference of Parties (COP 10) inviting Parties to take concrete actions to encourage and assist Parties to ratify the Ban Amendment, including initiatives to help Parties facing legal and technical difficulties in ratifying the Amendment. [UNITAR Press Release]