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Laws and treaties

• Climate Change Response Act
• Environment Act
• Fiordland (Te Moana o Atawhenua) Marine Management Act
• Foreshore and Seabed Act
• HSNO Act
• Ozone Layer Protection Act
• Resource Management Act
• Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act
• National environmental standards
• Regulatory Impact Statements
• Multilateral Environmental Agreements
• International Trade and Environment
• Waste Minimisation Act

Basel Convention

The 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal aims to both reduce the amount of waste produced by signatories, and regulate the international traffic in hazardous wastes (especially to developing countries). It requires prior approval of hazardous waste imports and exports, and requires exporting countries to ensure that hazardous waste will be managed “in an environmentally sound manner”. The Convention emphasises the principle of “generator responsibility” (a version of the “polluter pays” principle in the Rio Declaration) for disposal of wastes, and requires parties to minimise the environmental effects of the movement and disposal of hazardous waste. Before the Convention was ratified, Parliament had to consider its implications on aspects of New Zealand law, including the new Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996.

The Convention includes a ban on exports of all hazardous waste to non-OECD countries – New Zealand has questioned the effectiveness of this ban in assisting the Convention's environmental objective of appropriate disposal and management. A further issue being debated is the problem of unwanted agrichemicals which cannot be disposed of in New Zealand.

Last updated: 17 September 2007