The Environmental Management Domain of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) is pleased to invite you to a Mini Conference on transboundary movements of waste (TMW). The Mini Conference will be held on 29 September 2016 at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Bangkok, Thailand, within the framework of the 28th UN/CEFACT Forum.
Basel Convention and Transboundary Movements of Waste
In the 1980s, deposits of hazardous wastes in parts of the developing world, imported from abroad, became publicly known and led to a public outcry. In response, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted in 1989 and entered into force in 1992. As of 2016, more than 180 countries are parties to the Convention.
For preventing adverse effects to human health and the environment, the three principal aims of the Convention are (i) the reduction of hazardous waste generation, (ii) the restriction of transboundary movements of waste except where environmentally sound, and (iii) a regulatory system.
The regulatory system involves permitting, announcements of individual movements of waste, and reporting on the receipt, recovery or disposal of waste. This requires a vast number of documents and vast amount of information to be exchanged business-to-government, government-to-government and business-to-business. Electronic data interchange can make a big difference compared to how the exchange of information has been handled in the past, predominantly via fax. Administrative burdens can be dramatically reduced; the regulatory system becomes more efficient and more effective.
The TMW Project
The UN/CEFACT Transboundary Movements of Waste (TMW) project has been launched to establish a global standard for the electronic interchange of waste movement related data. The standard is available to be used by all parties involved in transboundary movements of waste and by IT solution providers.
An initial set of deliverables including XML data formats and a business requirements specification has been completed and is available on the UN/CEFACT website. These results are in use in first implementations.
About the Mini Conference
The purpose of the Mini Conference is to inform about the TMW project, to provide expertise on the implementation of the TMW standard, and to share experiences and lessons learned.
The conference is organized as a peer-to-peer workshop, where experts share their experience and discuss implementation approaches.
Target Audience
The target audience is experts from governments, competent authorities, international organisations, academia and IT solution providers in the field of environmental management.
Registration
Registration is compulsory for attending the Mini Conference. You are kindly invited to register through the 28th UN/CEFACT Forum online registration.
Participation is free of charge but participants are responsible for making their own travel and accommodation arrangements.
Should you need any more information about the Mini Conference, please do not hesitate to contact the UNECE secretariat by e-mail at [email protected].
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