Mandate:
Pursuant to article 5 of the Basel Convention, Parties are required to designate or establish one or more competent authorities to facilitate the implementation of the Convention.
A competent authority means the governmental authority designated to be responsible, within such geographical areas as the Party may think fit, for receiving notifications of transboundary movements and any related information and for responding to such notifications (article 2).
Frequency:
Parties are required to inform the Secretariat:
- within 3 months of becoming a Party, which agencies they have designated as their competent authority(ies); and
- within 1 month of taking such a decision, of any changes regarding the designation of these entities.
Format:
The Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention at its ninth meeting (June 2008) adopted a standard form for submitting formal designations of competent authorities and focal points to the Secretariat, including any modifications or additions as they occur. This form is available in all six official United Nations languages and can be downloaded in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian or Spanish.
Procedures and processes of the Secretariat:
Parties are requested to send the form duly completed to the Secretary of the Secretariat of the Basel Convention by fax (+41 -22-797 34 54) or e-mail (sbc@unep.org). It is important to note that self-nominations will not be considered.
The form must be completed by an entity duly authorized by the Government to communicate such information to the Secretariat, and the information transmitted will be included in the official records of the Secretariat as well as on the website of the Basel Convention (www.basel.int), as the officially designated competent authority(ies) for the purposes of article 5 of the Convention.
List of Competent Authorities:
Please click here to access the list of designated competent authorities.