The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal celebrates its tenth anniversary in 1999. As the only treaty addressing international transfer and environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes at the global level, the Basel Convention has gained universal recognition as the key legal instrument in this field. The anniversary presents an opportunity to assess its evolution , and to consider challenges for the future. Other existing relevant legal instruments have also evolved further, and new ones have been adopted.

This book analyses the relationship of the Basel Convention with other pertinent legal rules, and proposes means to form a comprehensive global regulatory regime for hazardous waste management on the basis of the Convention. Since the book was first published, a number of important developments have taken place. Chief among these is the adoption of an amendment to the Basel Convention which provides for a ban on exports of hazardous wastes from OECD to non OECD countries. A tendency to impose similar restrictions can also be observed in other relevant legal instruments. The introduction to this book has therefore been revised by way of a substantial new preface to give an overview of the important developments since 1994, and their impact on the overall analysis.