Open-Ended Working Group of the Basel Convention

UNEP/CHW/OEWG/2/12

BC

UNEP/CHW/OEWG/3/13

/ Distr.: General
1 March 2004
Original: English

UNEP/CHW/OEWG/3/13

Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention

on the Control of Transboundary Movements of

Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal

Third session

Geneva, 26–30 April 2004

Item 10 of the provisional agenda[*]

Mechanism for promoting implementation and compliance

Note by the Secretariat

I. Introduction

1. Reference is made to decision VI/12 adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its sixth meeting, by which the Conference of the Parties established a mechanism for promoting the implementation of and compliance with the obligations set out under the Basel Convention.

2. By decision VI/13, the Conference of the Parties called for the nomination of candidates for membership of the committee that would administer this mechanism and mandated the Open-ended Working Group to elect the first members of the committee on behalf of the Conference of the Parties.

3. As reflected in paragraph 6 of the terms of reference contained in the appendix to decision VI/12, the Conference of the Parties provided that at the first election of members of the committee, five members (one from each region) would be elected for a period of one term, and ten members (two from each region) would be elected for two terms. The Conference further provided that after the first election of the members of the committee, the Conference of the Parties would at each ordinary meeting elect for two full terms new members to replace those members whose period of office had expired or was about to expire and that members would not serve for more than two consecutive terms. “Term” is defined in the terms of reference as the period that begins at the end of one ordinary meeting of the Conference of the Parties and ends at the end of the next ordinary meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

4. Paragraph 8 of the terms of reference contained in the appendix to decision VI/12 provides that the Committee shall meet at least once between each regular meeting of the Conference of the Parties and in conjunction with meetings of other Convention bodies.

II. Implementation

5. At its first meeting, the Open-ended Working Group adopted decision OEWG-I/2 concerning the election of the committee for administering the mechanism for promoting implementation and compliance. By that decision, the Open-ended working Group elected, on behalf of the Conference of the Parties, the following members of the committee for administering the mechanism for promoting implementation and compliance:

From the African region

1. Mr. Rachid Ouali – Algeria (for one term)

2. Mr. Prakash Kowlesser – Mauritius (for two terms)

3. Mr. Ibrahima Sow – Senegal (for two terms)

From the Asian region

4. Mr. Xia Yingyxian – People’s Republic of China (for two terms)

5. Professor Akiho Shibata – Japan (for two terms)

6. Ms. Hajah Rosnani Ibrahim – Malaysia (for one term)

From the Central and Eastern Europe region

7. Mr. Givi Kalandadze – Georgia (for two terms)

8. Mr. Gordana Petkovic – Serbia and Montenegro (for one term)

9. Mr. Pavel Suian – Romania (for two terms)

From the Latin American and Caribbean region

10. Mr. Miguel Angel Hildmann – Argentina (for two terms)

11. Mrs. Maria Angelica Ikeda – Brazil (for one term)

12. Mr. Mauricio Garcia-Velasco – Mexico (for two terms)

From the group of Western European and other countries region

13. Mr. Hugh Adsett – Canada (for two terms)

14. Mr. Veit Koester – Denmark (for one term)

15. Mr. Roy Watkinson – United Kingdom (for two terms)

6. The committee held its first meeting on 19 October 2003, during which the members of the bureau of the committee were elected and certain procedural matters were considered. The chair of the committee made a statement to the Open-ended Working Group at its second session regarding the proceedings of the first meeting of the committee (UNEP/CHW/OEWG/2/12, annex V).

7. The committee consulted by e-mail and other means during the interim period concerning procedural matters and future activities. Noting that decision VI/12 required the committee to convene its meetings in conjunction with meetings of other Convention bodies, several members of the committee expressed considerable concern that Parties’ delegations to such meetings did not necessarily include members of the committee. Certain members of the committee considered that there was a lack of resources to ensure the attendance of all its members at committee meetings could adversely affect the committee’s efforts to advance its work. Several committee members expressed the view that the effective functioning of this newly-established Convention body would be promoted by the convening of a meeting of the committee at least once every year.

8. The committee had not, as at 26 February 2004, received any submissions from Parties or the Secretariat.

III. Proposed action

9. Bearing in mind that the terms of office for those five members of the committee elected for one term will expire at the end of the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties and that it will therefore be necessary to hold elections during the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties in accordance with paragraph 6 of the terms of reference contained in the appendix to decision VI/12, a call for nominations for one candidate for each region should be made, each candidate meeting the requirements set forth in paragraph 5 of the terms of reference.

10. The Open-ended Working Group may wish to consider adopting a decision along the following lines:

The Open-ended Working Group,

Recalling decision VI/12 on the establishment of a mechanism for promoting implementation and compliance,

Recalling also paragraph 6 of the appendix to decision VI/12 concerning the election of members of the committee established to administer the mechanism for promoting implementation and compliance,

1. Calls upon the Parties to nominate candidates meeting the requirements of paragraph 5 of the appendix to decision VI/12 for membership of the Committee;

2. Requests the Parties to submit their nominations to the Secretariat for five positions on the Committee two months before the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

3. Further requests the Secretariat to distribute the nominations together with the provisional agenda and supporting documents for that meeting.

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[*] UNEP/CHW/OEWG/3/1.