Disposal of hazardous substances

Reference is made to the report entitled House Approves Nuclear Motions (October 20). The report states that the parliamentary motion moved by the Prime Minister authorises the government to accede to the Convention of Basel.

The Parliamentary Secretariat for Tourism, the Environment and Culture clarifies that Malta had acceded to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal on June 19, 2000. The parliamentary motion referred to in the report sought authorisation for the government to accede to an amendment to ban hazardous wastes exports for final disposal and recycling from what are known as Annex VII countries (parties to the Convention that are members of the EU, OECD and Lichtenstein) to non-Annex VII countries (all other parties to the Convention). This amendment is known as the “Ban Amendment”.

Furthermore, it must be clarified that the amendment to the Convention does not deal with radioactive waste, which is excluded from the scope of the Basel Convention.

Thus, the title of the report is misleading.