The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal (Basel Convention) was negotiated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and adopted by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries (COP) on March 22, 1989, in Basel, Switzerland, and entered into force on May 05, 1992. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago acceded to the Basel Convention on February 18, 1994 and the Convention entered into force in Trinidad and Tobago on May 19, 1994.  

The draft Technical and Legislative Brief (Brief) is intended to inform the drafting of legislation to enact the Basel Convention, which is a multilateral environmental agreement with the primary objectives to: 

• Reduce hazardous waste generation and promote the environmentally sound management of waste; 
• Restrict transboundary movements of wastes within the principle of environmentally sound management; and  
• Implement a regulatory system to permit transboundary movements. 

The Brief includes information on the implementation of the Basel Convention to date, the proposed requirements for enabling legislation and supporting materials which the EMA believes would assist the public in developing a reasonable understanding of the proposal to develop legislation to enact the Basel Convention.

A copy of the Brief is available via Technical & Legislative Brief on the Proposed Basel Bill from Monday 18 November, 2024 to Friday 17 January, 2025.

Members of the public are invited to submit written comments on the Brief during the aforementioned period, via Technical and Legislative Brief for the Basel Convention: Feedback Form