This consultation document seeks feedback on proposed regulations affecting the international trade in e-waste. The New Zealand Government proposes extending the current conditions of consent that apply to the import or export of hazardous e-waste to include non-hazardous e-waste, in line with amendments to the Basel Convention.

The Basel Convention came into force in 1992. New Zealand has been a Party to the Basel Convention since 1994 and is bound to comply with it.

The Basel Convention aims to protect human health and the environment from the dangers posed by hazardous wastes and other wastes and regulates the international movement of those wastes. It requires importing countries to give prior informed consent (consent) for transboundary movements of wastes listed under the Basel Convention. 

At its 15th meeting in 2022, the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention amended the Convention so that transboundary movement of all e-waste will require consent from the importing country. Currently consent is only required for e-waste that meets the Basel Convention’s hazardous waste criteria. These amendments will enter into force on January 1 2025.

Submissions close on Wednesday, 28 August 2024.