Strategic Network Collaboration

Activities

Basel Convention

ENFORCE

IMPEL is a member of ENFORCE (the Environmental Network for Optimizing Regulatory Compliance on Illegal Traffic) established by the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention . The network aims to promote parties compliance with the provisions of the Basel Convention by bringing together existing resources and enhance and improve cooperation and coordination to deliver capacity-building activities and tools on preventing and combating illegal waste shipments. In 2024 IMPEL Waste and TFS Expert team supported the ENFORCE Network at their Regional workshop on enforcement of the plastic waste amendments under the Basel Convention, at the Regional workshop on e- waste amendments for countries in the Asia – Pacific and the Regional workshop covering e-waste amendments, and national legislation and illegal traffic for countries in the African region.

Please visit 👉 ENFORCE webpage on Basel Convention Website

Asian Network

The Asian Network for Prevention of Illegal Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes is an informal network among the Competent Authorities to the Basel Convention in Asia, which aims at facilitating exchange and dissemination of information on transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and assisting countries in implementing the Basel Convention under each country's system, The Network also provides useful information that can contribute to capacity building of the participating countries for control on import and export and environmentally sound management of hazardous waste and other waste. The Network organizes every year a meeting where all the participating countries in the network and other organizations such as the Basel Secretariat, UNEP and UNODC will meet. IMPEL is also always invited to share the latest developments in Europe regarding the transfrontier shipments of waste and this network is invited to IMPEL's Annual Waste and TFS Annual Conference.

Please visit 👉 Asian Network website and Basel Convention Asian Network Webpage

World Costums Organization

World Customs Organisation

Operation DEMETER is a World Customs Organisation led operation focusing on fighting illegal trade in shipments of waste which is supported by IMPEL. IMPEL played a pivotal role in bolstering capacity building activities and facilitating information sharing across their network. Cooperation is intended to take place not only at the international level, but also nationally, between customs and competent authorities. Operation DEMETER X in 2024 recorded 324 seizures with E-waste, plastic waste, metal waste, and end-of-life vehicles being the most traded categories of illegal waste in terms of the number of seizures. In terms of quantity in kg, plastic waste was the first category, constituting 24.71% of the overall quantity seized.

Other Networking Opportunities

In a recent report (Oct 24) by the Council of the European Union on combating cross-border environmental crime it concluded that the transnational dimension of environmental crime committed by criminal networks requires the strengthening of the cooperation of the EU institutions and the Member States as well as third countries, international organisations, and further public and private partners. Emphasis was placed on increased cooperation between international agencies and bodies dealing with environmental crime e.g. INTERPOL, UNODC, WCO.

The fight against environmental crime requires close national and international cooperation between many organisations: judicial authorities, administrative bodies, law enforcement authorities, customs authorities, NGO's and private partners and IMPEL's Waste and TFS Expert Team will continue to build on this successful area of work.