THE National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has announced that effective January 1, 2025, people wishing to export waste electrical and electronic equipment (e-waste) will be subjected to the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure in accordance with amendments to the Basel Convention.

The Basel Convention e-waste amendment was agreed on by the Conference of Parties in 2022 (COP-15) to enlarge the control of the transboundary movement of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Under the PIC procedure, NEPA is required to seek and obtain prior approval from the competent authorities of transit and importing states before granting a permit for the transboundary movement of e-waste from the island.

Jamaica had been observing this procedure for some time, however, the amendment will allow for greater control over the trading of e-waste, as all items, whether hazardous or non-hazardous, will now be subjected to the PIC procedure.

The amendment was deemed necessary against the background that non-functional used electrical and electronic equipment and their components were being dumped in developing countries.

Exports of e-waste were initially intended for the trade of functioning equipment to receiving countries (hence not classified as hazardous). However, it was found that much of the equipment exported were non-functional materials that were being traded under the guise as functional, and therefore could only be discarded.

As such, the disposed e-waste posed serious environmental hazards for receiving nations which were, in the main, developing countries.

The danger posed from the export of non-functional e-waste was that they were typically burnt at dump sites to reduce volumes and caused the release of toxic substances, sometimes up to 1,000 different toxic chemicals into the environment. Amendments to some of the annexes of the Basel Convention were made with the objective of increasing the scope of control on the transboundary movement of e-waste thereby minimising harm to the environment.

The impacted Annexes are II, VIII and IX. Hazardous e-waste containing what the Basel Convention refers to as Annex I elements like mercury, lead, and brominated flame retardant that are corrosive, explosive, poisonous or toxic, will see improved regulations.

The amendment requires the addition and deletion of entry codes from some Annexes. The electronic and electrical waste that were assigned deleted codes from Annexes VIII and IX have been reassigned to new codes that were added under Annexes II and VIII.

All items are still subject to trade. However, non-hazardous e-waste that were previously not in need of PIC to be traded will require PIC as of January 1, 2025.

Jamaica’s legislation which implements the Basel Convention is the Natural Resources (Hazardous Waste) (Control of Transboundary Movement) Regulations, 2002. This regulation will be updated to reflect the Basel Convention’s e-waste amendments.