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The International Trade in Hazardous Wastes and Its Economic Background

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Responsibility and Liability in the Context of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes by Sea

Part of the book series: Hamburg Studies on Maritime Affairs ((HAMBURG,volume 29))

Abstract

Before providing an examination of the existing legal framework governing the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes by sea and prior to an assessment of the particular provisions of the Protocol to the Basel Convention, it is necessary to first outline the practical circumstances of the underlying problem area and the typical constellations of hazardous waste shipments by sea. Consequently, at the outset of this work a whole series of questions arise: What is the practical significance of hazardous waste movements and what amounts of wastes are shipped across the globe? What are the economic drivers and the interests of the parties involved? Which economic and political impulses influence States, economies and private players? How does “hazardous waste shipment” typically take place? And at what point might liability function as a trigger to correct possible misconduct by the parties involved? A brief introduction to these issues shall be given in this second chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See the term “Abfall” (transl. “waste”), in the German Wikipedia as of June 2010.

  2. 2.

    See e.g. “Abfall” in: Brockhaus, Vol. 1, (21st ed. 2006); “Abfall” in: Meyers Enzyklopädisches Lexikon, Vol. 1, (9th ed. 1971); “Waste” in: The Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. XII, (1978).

  3. 3.

    Basel Convention, Article 2(1); Bamako Convention, Article 1(1); Waigani Convention, Article (1); OECD Council Decision C(2001)107/FINAL, A(1); EU Directive 2008/98/EC, Article 3(1); Izmir Protocol to the Barcelona Convention, Article 1(c); Tehran Protocol to the Kuwait Convention, Article 2(1).

  4. 4.

    See also O'Neill, Waste Trading Among Rich Nations (2000), at 26–29.

  5. 5.

    Basel Convention, Article 1(1)(a) in connection with Annexes I, III; Waigani Convention, Article 2(1)(a) in connection with Annexes I, II; OECD Council Decision C(2001)107/FINAL, A(2) in connection with Appendixes 1, 2; Tehran Protocol to the Kuwait Convention, Article 1(1)(a) in connection with Annexes I, III.

  6. 6.

    Bamako Convention, Article 2(1)(a) and (c) in connection with Annexes I, III; Izmir Protocol to the Barcelona Convention, Article 3(1)(a) and (c) in connection with Annexes I, II.

  7. 7.

    EU Directive 2008/98/EC, Article 3(2) in connection with Annex III.

  8. 8.

    See Basel Convention, Article 1(2) in connection with Annex II; Tehran Protocol to the Kuwait Convention, Article 1(1)(b) in connection with Annex II.

  9. 9.

    Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 1993–2000, at 15.

  10. 10.

    See for example the enumerations in Annex I of the Basel Convention. See also Gwam, ‘Adverse Effects of the Illicit Movement of Hazardous Wastes', 14 Fla. J. Int'l L. (2001/2002), at 431–432; Krueger, International Trade and the Basel Convention (1999), at 7–8 and 99–106.

  11. 11.

    See for example the characteristic listed in Annex III of the Basel Convention.

  12. 12.

    Basel Convention, Article 13(3)(b).

  13. 13.

    See the “Reporting Database” on www.basel.int.

  14. 14.

    See for a detailed analysis: COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 6; Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 1993–2000, at 1, 8–11; Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (ed.), Zehn Jahre Basler Übereinkommen (1999), at 14–15; Walsh, ‘The Global Trade in Hazardous Wastes', 42 Cath. U. L. Rev. (1992/1993), at 108–110.

  15. 15.

    See Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25.11.2002 on waste statistics.

  16. 16.

    As to the quality of the waste statistics provided by the EU see Report of the EC on waste statistics and their quality, EC Doc. COM(2011) 131 final.

  17. 17.

    For an analysis of the data covering the period between 1990 and 1998 see European Environment Agency (ed.), Hazardous Waste Generation in EEA Member Countries (2002), at 14 et seq.

  18. 18.

    The abbreviations EU15, EU25 and EU27 denote the number of Member States of the EU at that time.

  19. 19.

    See Report of the EC, EC Doc. COM(2006) 430 final, at 6. See also the data provided in EC Doc. SEC(2006) 1053.

  20. 20.

    Report of the EC, EC Doc. COM(2009) 282 final, at 5–6. See also the data provided in EC Doc. SEC(2009) 811 final, and European Environment Agency (ed.), Transboundary Shipments in the EU (2008), at 25–28.

  21. 21.

    Data obtained from the database on hazardous waste generation on http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu.

  22. 22.

    European Union (ed.), Eurostat Yearbook 2011, at 481, 485.

  23. 23.

    See OECD (ed.), OECD Environmental Data, Compendium 2006–2008: Waste, at 18–22; Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 1993–2000, at 11–12 and Appendix 3; Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 2004–2006, at 10 and Annex 2.

  24. 24.

    COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 6; Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 2004–2006, at 8–10.

  25. 25.

    This was calculated according to the increasing production of organic chemicals, see Kummer, The Basel Convention (1995), at 4. See also Walsh, ‘The Global Trade in Hazardous Wastes', 42 Cath. U. L. Rev. (1992/1993), at 110–111.

  26. 26.

    Kummer, The Basel Convention (1995), at 4; Poulakidas, ‘Waste Trade and Disposal in the Americas', 21 Vt. L. Rev. (1996/1997), at 873; Rutinwa, ‘Liability and Compensation', 6 RECIEL (1997), at 8; Williams, ‘Trashing Developing Nations: The Global Hazardous Waste Trade', 39 Buff. L. Rev. (1991), at 276.

  27. 27.

    A moderate increase is also assumed by COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 6; Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 1993–2000, at 11–15; Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 2004–2006, at 8–10.

  28. 28.

    A comprehensive list of disposal operations can also be found in Annex IV of the Basel Convention.

  29. 29.

    European Union (ed.), Eurostat Yearbook 2011, at 486.

  30. 30.

    See supra, Sect. “The Factual Perspective: Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes by Sea” in Chap. 1.

  31. 31.

    Louka, International Environmental Law (2006), at 425.

  32. 32.

    Louka, International Environmental Law (2006), at 427; see also Avery, ‘Our Rubbish: Someone Else's Problem?', 2 Int'l J. Hum. Rts. (1998), at 24–25.

  33. 33.

    Louka, International Environmental Law (2006), at 427.

  34. 34.

    See for instance the required reception facilities for ship tank washing residues according to Annex II of MARPOL 73/78 Convention; infra, Sect. “MARPOL 73/78 Convention” in Chap. 3.

  35. 35.

    van Daele/Vander Beken/Dorn, ‘Waste Management and Crime', 37 Envtl. Pol'y & L. (2007), at 36.

  36. 36.

    See also Abrams, ‘Regulating the International Hazardous Waste Trade', 28 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. (1990), at 806.

  37. 37.

    Moreover, one could think about defining wastes and hazardous wastes according to their economic value for their owner. So long as the wastes can be sold on the world market for a positive price, also taking into account transaction costs (e.g. costs for transportation or brokerage fees), this would reflect that the consignee has an economic interest in these wastes, e.g. for recovery or recycling operations. In this case the wastes could be considered non-hazardous. On the other hand, as soon as the seller has to pay additionally for selling the wastes, this is a strong indication that the wastes do not contain recyclable or recoverable substances or properties and, thus, are unwanted goods even from an economic perspective. Based on the assumption that costs for disposal increase with the hazardousness of the wastes, the latter type of wastes could be considered hazardous. This definition, to be sure, functions only in a very schematic way.

  38. 38.

    This, of course, disregards the issue of determining when the risk of damage passes over to the consignee, which is most commonly specified by means of INCOTERMS.

  39. 39.

    The economic perspective of establishing civil liability with regard to public goods (such as the “clean environment”) is outlined by Feess, Umweltökonomie (3rd ed., 2007), at 37–57, 151–183; Reis, Compensation for Environmental Damage under International Law (2011), at 132–145; An economic analysis of the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes is provided by Cassing/Kuhn, ‘Strategic Environmental Policies', 11 Rev. Int. Econ. (2003), at 495 et seq.; Copeland, ‘International Trade in Waste Products', 20 J. Environ. Econ. Manage. (1991), at 143 et seq.; Hansen/Thomas, ‘The Efficiency of Sharing Liability', 19 Int'l Rev. L. & Econ. (1999), at 135 et seq.; Kirstein, Internationaler Müllhandel aus Sicht der ökonomischen Analyse des Rechts, in: Eger/Bigus/Ott/von Wangenheim (ed.) (2008), at 443 et seq.; Rauscher, International Trade, Factor Movements, and the Environment (1997), at 91–121.

  40. 40.

    See also Hackmann, ‘International Trade in Waste Materials', 29 Intereconomics (1994), at 298–299; Marbury, ‘Hazardous Waste Exportation', 28 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. (1995), at 259; O'Neill, Waste Trading Among Rich Nations (2000), at 34; Rauscher, International Trade in Hazardous Waste, in: Schulze/Ursprung (ed.) (2001), at 152.

  41. 41.

    This basically applies to rules of fault-based liability, but may also apply to rules of strict liability, provided there are exclusions from liability in case of certain inevitable events.

  42. 42.

    See Giampetro-Meyer, ‘Captain Planet Takes on Hazard Transfer', 27 UCLA J. Envtl. L. & Pol'y (2009), at 77–84; Hackmann, ‘International Trade in Waste Materials', 29 Intereconomics (1994), at 299–300.

  43. 43.

    Lawrence, ‘Negotiation of a Protocol on Liability and Compensation', 7 RECIEL (1998), at 250; Murphy, ‘Prospective Liability Regimes', 88 AJIL (1994), at 62–63.

  44. 44.

    Some examples are the “Seweso Disaster” in 1976, the case of the M/V “Khian Sea” in 1986 and the “Koko Beach Incident” in 1988.

  45. 45.

    Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (ed.), Zehn Jahre Basler Übereinkommen (1999), at 9; Poulakidas, ‘Waste Trade and Disposal in the Americas', 21 Vt. L. Rev. (1996/1997), at 877.

  46. 46.

    Kummer, The Basel Convention (1995), at 6; Obstler, ‘Toward a Working Solution to Global Pollution', 16 Yale J. Int'l L. (1991), at 78.

  47. 47.

    The costs of hazardous waste in the USA increased from approximately USD 15 per ton in 1980 to approximately USD 250 regarding the disposal on landfill sites, or to approximately USD 2,000 for incineration, in 1988. See Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (ed.), Zehn Jahre Basler Übereinkommen (1999), at 9; Clapp, ‘The Toxic Waste Trade', 15 TWQ (1994), at 506.

  48. 48.

    Kummer, The Basel Convention (1995), at 6–7; Kitt, ‘Waste Exports to the Developing World', 7 Geo. Int'l Envtl. L. Rev. (1994/1995), at 488.

  49. 49.

    “NIMBY” is the acronym of “not in my backyard” and is also known as the “St. Florian’s Principle”.

  50. 50.

    Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (ed.), Zehn Jahre Basler Übereinkommen (1999), at 9; Obstler, ‘Toward a Working Solution to Global Pollution', 16 Yale J. Int'l L. (1991), at 76; Poulakidas, ‘Waste Trade and Disposal in the Americas', 21 Vt. L. Rev. (1996/1997), at 877.

  51. 51.

    Kummer, The Basel Convention (1995), at 6; Obstler, ‘Toward a Working Solution to Global Pollution', 16 Yale J. Int'l L. (1991), at 75–80; Poulakidas, ‘Waste Trade and Disposal in the Americas', 21 Vt. L. Rev. (1996/1997), at 910.

  52. 52.

    Anand, International Environmental Justice (2004), at 64; Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (ed.), Zehn Jahre Basler Übereinkommen (1999), at 9; Kitt, ‘Waste Exports to the Developing World', 7 Geo. Int'l Envtl. L. Rev. (1994/1995), at 488–490; Kummer, The Basel Convention (1995), at 7–8.

  53. 53.

    Basel Convention, Article 13; see also Article 16.

  54. 54.

    Only 58 Contracting States (ca. 33 %) have reported data on imports and exports of hazardous wastes for the year 2009; see the reporting database on www.basel.int.

  55. 55.

    As to the reasons for incomplete or incomparable data see COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, Annex 3, at 24 et seq.

  56. 56.

    This methodology is explained in COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, Annex 3, at 25–26.

  57. 57.

    As to the significance of illegal shipments see infra, Sect. “Illegal Traffic and Shipments off the Official Path”.

  58. 58.

    Kummer, The Basel Convention (1995), at 5; O'Neill, Waste Trading Among Rich Nations (2000), at 36; Valin, ‘The Basel Convention', 6 Ind. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. (1995), at 268.

  59. 59.

    The 1980s estimation was based on an overall generation of 300–500 million tons. Given the increasing amount of generated hazardous wastes and the present estimations of transboundary movements as outlined in the following text, the 10 % estimation would only come to 112 million tons. See also Montgomery, ‘Reassessing the Waste Trade Crisis', 4 J. Env. & Dev. (1995), at 4.

  60. 60.

    Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 1993–2000, at 22.

  61. 61.

    COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 7, 26; Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 2004–2006, at 12.

  62. 62.

    See the reporting database on www.basel.int, which, however, does not provide the evaluated and corrected data.

  63. 63.

    Annex VII of the Basel Convention (which is not yet in force) comprises OECD Member States, EU Member States and Liechtenstein.

  64. 64.

    These data are provided for 2006 by COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 7–9; the same figures also apply for the following years; see the reporting database on www.basel.int.

  65. 65.

    Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 2004–2006, at 17.

  66. 66.

    COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 8; Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 2004–2006, at 15.

  67. 67.

    COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 8; Basel Secretariat (ed.), Global Trends 2004-2006, at 18.

  68. 68.

    COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 9.

  69. 69.

    See e.g. Wynne, ‘The Toxic Waste Trade', 11 TWQ (1989), at 130.

  70. 70.

    van Daele/Vander Beken/Dorn, ‘Waste Management and Crime', 37 Envtl. Pol'y & L. (2007), at 36; O'Neill, ‘Out of the Backyard', 7 J. Env. & Dev. (1998), at 147.

  71. 71.

    See e.g. van Daele/Vander Beken/Dorn, ‘Waste Management and Crime', 37 Envtl. Pol'y & L. (2007), at 36.

  72. 72.

    Kummer, The Basel Convention (1995), at 7; For a critical examination of the “tip of the iceberg theory” see Montgomery, ‘Reassessing the Waste Trade Crisis', 4 J. Env. & Dev. (1995), at 13–20.

  73. 73.

    An example of a recent instance of illegal dumping in the Czech Republic/Germany is given by Meßerschmidt, Europäisches Umweltrecht (2011), at 891.

  74. 74.

    Illegal traffic is defined by the Basel Convention as any transboundary movement of hazardous wastes that does not conform with the requirements of the Basel Convention, Article 2(21), 9(1). Similar definitions can be found in Article 1(22), 9(1) of the Bamako Convention and in Article 1, 9(1) of the Waigani Convention.

  75. 75.

    See Liu, ‘The Koko Incident', 8 J. Nat. Resources & Envtl. L. (1992/1993), at 126.

  76. 76.

    van Daele/Vander Beken/Dorn, ‘Waste Management and Crime', 37 Envtl. Pol'y & L. (2007), at 35–36.

  77. 77.

    van Daele/Vander Beken/Dorn, ‘Waste Management and Crime', 37 Envtl. Pol'y & L. (2007), at 35–37; Giampetro-Meyer, ‘Captain Planet Takes on Hazard Transfer', 27 UCLA J. Envtl. L. & Pol'y (2009), at 76.

  78. 78.

    Supra, Sect. “The Commercial Value of Hazardous Wastes”.

  79. 79.

    A comprehensive examination of the reasons for movements of hazardous wastes was prepared by the Indonesian-Swiss Country-Led Initiative to Improve the Effectiveness of the Basel Convention, as annexed to COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4.

  80. 80.

    As regards the application of the Basel Convention to the export of end-of-life ships for dismantling see Lagoni/Albers, ‘Schiffe als Abfall?', 30 NuR (2008), at 220 et seq.

  81. 81.

    COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 10–12.

  82. 82.

    A Contracting State may, for instance, unilaterally ban any import of hazardous wastes with the legal consequence that the other Contracting States are obliged to ensure that no exports will be delivered to this particular State; see Basel Convention, Article 4(1)(b).

  83. 83.

    COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 12–14, 17.

  84. 84.

    COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 14–16; Alam, ‘Trade Restrictions Pursuant to MEAs', 41 J.W.T. (2007), at 1003.

  85. 85.

    Giampetro-Meyer, ‘Captain Planet Takes on Hazard Transfer', 27 UCLA J. Envtl. L. & Pol'y (2009), at 76; Hackmann, ‘International Trade in Waste Materials', 29 Intereconomics (1994), at 297; Suttles, ‘Transmigration of Hazardous Industry', 16 Tul. Envtl. L. J. (2002/2003), at 1 et seq.

  86. 86.

    See O'Neill, Waste Trading Among Rich Nations (2000), at 4.

  87. 87.

    See supra, Sect. “Quantities and Typical Patterns of Hazardous Wastes Movements”. For the diverging positions of the EU and the USA, both of which have highly advanced economies, see Dreher/Pulver, ‘Environment as "High Politics"?', 17 RECIEL (2008), at 308 et seq.

  88. 88.

    This, of course, excludes any political activity that is driven by corruption, the acceptance of advantages and other personal interests of the involved decision-makers.

  89. 89.

    See also Rauscher, International Trade in Hazardous Waste, in: Schulze/Ursprung (ed.) (2001), at 157.

  90. 90.

    See supra, Sect. “Private Parties”.

  91. 91.

    Johnstone, ‘The Implications of the Basel Convention for Developing Countries', 23 Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (1998), at 4–5; Krueger, ‘The Basel Convention', YBICED (2001/2002), at 45.

  92. 92.

    Dreher/Pulver, ‘Environment as "High Politics"?', 17 RECIEL (2008), at 311.

  93. 93.

    Helfenstein, ‘U.S. Controls on International Disposal of Hazardous Waste', 22 Int'l Law. (1988), at 788; Ovink, ‘Transboundary Shipments of Toxic Waste', 13 Dick. J. Int'l L. (1994/1995), at 284.

  94. 94.

    Poulakidas, ‘Waste Trade and Disposal in the Americas', 21 Vt. L. Rev. (1996/1997), at 875.

  95. 95.

    The Regional Workshop Aimed at Promoting Ratification of the Protocol held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in August/September 2004 under the aegis of the Basel Secretariat revealed that most African countries have established import bans on hazardous wastes, see COP7 Doc. UNEP/CHW.7/INF/11, at 3.

  96. 96.

    Johnstone, ‘The Implications of the Basel Convention for Developing Countries', 23 Resour. Conserv. Recycl. (1998), at 3; Krueger, ‘The Basel Convention', YBICED (2001/2002), at 45.

  97. 97.

    See also Montgomery, ‘Reassessing the Waste Trade Crisis', 4 J. Env. & Dev. (1995), at 12.

  98. 98.

    See also Fagbohun, ‘The Regulation of Transboundary Shipments of Hazardous Waste', 37 HKLJ (2007), at 850–851.

  99. 99.

    See also Hackett, ‘Assessment of the Basel Convention', 5 Am. U. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y (1989/1990), at 298.

  100. 100.

    Marbury, ‘Hazardous Waste Exportation', 28 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. (1995), at 291–293; Pellow, Resisting Global Toxics (2007), at 9–10; O'Neill, ‘Out of the Backyard', 7 J. Env. & Dev. (1998), at 142; see also Obstler, ‘Toward a Working Solution to Global Pollution', 16 Yale J. Int'l L. (1991), at 80–81; Park, ‘An Examination of International Environmental Racism', 5 Ind. J. Global Legal Studies (1997/1998), at 659 et seq.

  101. 101.

    Pellow, Resisting Global Toxics (2007), at 9.

  102. 102.

    See Park, ‘An Examination of International Environmental Racism', 5 Ind. J. Global Legal Studies (1997/1998), at 660 with further references.

  103. 103.

    Montgomery, ‘Reassessing the Waste Trade Crisis', 4 J. Env. & Dev. (1995), at 3.

  104. 104.

    See also Park, ‘An Examination of International Environmental Racism', 5 Ind. J. Global Legal Studies (1997/1998), at 700–702.

  105. 105.

    A significant example of harm being caused to a great number of people by the release of hazardous wastes without any treatment into surface waters is offered by the case of the M/V “Probo Koala” in 1996; see supra, Sect. “The Factual Perspective: Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes by Sea” in Chap. 1.

  106. 106.

    COP10 Doc. UNEP/CHW.10/INF/4, at 30; Krueger, ‘The Basel Convention', YBICED (2001/2002), at 43; Kummer, The Basel Convention (1995), at 12–16; Valin, ‘The Basel Convention', 6 Ind. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. (1995), at 270; Walsh, ‘The Global Trade in Hazardous Wastes', 42 Cath. U. L. Rev. (1992/1993), at 105.

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Albers, J. (2015). The International Trade in Hazardous Wastes and Its Economic Background. In: Responsibility and Liability in the Context of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes by Sea. Hamburg Studies on Maritime Affairs, vol 29. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43349-2_2

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