Imports and Export of Dangerous Waste
The Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute's JournalTzvi Levinson and Gil Dror Adv. December 2006
The Basel Convention on the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal aims (a) at halting the dumping of such waste from industrialized nations to developing countries with inadequate or inexistent facilities for treating it or safely disposing of it; and (b) at facilitating the recovery and reuse operations as dangerous waste often contains precious metals.
The Convention provides for classification of different types of wastes. The categorization forms the basis for regulating the trans frontier movement for disposal and treatment purposes.
Israel is a party to the Convention. However the ratification law has two fundamental weaknesses: (a) It does not empower the competent authority to permit the movement of waste for treatment; and (b) it does not provide for the classification of wastes according to the internationally established criteria.
The article explains why for the sake of legal certainty the law should be amended so that importers / exporters of hazardous waste have a clear understanding of their obligations regarding reuse and recovery.