Course 5
Illegal traffic
Course 5 Quiz
Under article 9 of the Bamako Convention, illegal traffic occurs if the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes is taking place under the following conditions:
- without notification pursuant to the provisions of the Convention to all States concerned;
- without the consent of a State concerned;
- through consent obtained by falsification, misrepresentation or fraud;
- when movement does not conform in a material way with the documents; or
- when movement results in deliberate disposal of hazardous wastes or other wastes in contravention of the Convention and of general principles of international law.
Common methods of illegal traffic include making false declarations, the concealment, mixture or double layering of the materials in a shipment and the mislabeling of individual containers.
Such methods seek to misrepresent the actual contents of a said shipment, and, because of this, the meticulous and thorough scrutiny of national enforcement officers is required to detect cases of illegal traffic.
The Secretariat assists Parties on request in their identification of cases of illegal traffic and circulates immediately to the Parties concerned any information it has received regarding illegal traffic.
On receiving information about an alleged case of illegal traffic, the Secretariat contacts the focal points of the countries concerned (states of import, export and, as applicable, transit) to identify, confirm and initiate processes to manage the case.
As follow up, the Secretariat can facilitate diplomatic dialogue and support cooperation between the Parties concerned to reach consensus with respect to liabilities and compensation for damage.
The Conference of the Parties requested Parties to bring any cases or alleged cases of illegal traffic to the attention of the Secretariat and to provide the Secretariat with all necessary information to enable it to take any appropriate action.
In case of illegal traffic parties must notify the Secretariat using this form.
For reference, a list of forms submitted by parties to the Basel Convention relating to the notification of confirmed cases of illegal traffic is available on the Basel Convention web site.
This is a sample of the forementioned illegal traffic notification form
