Transboundary Waste Shipments in Brazil

Last Updated:	2004-11-08
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Introduction

Brazil is a Party to the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste (Basel Convention). Brazil also flatly prohibits importation of hazardous wastes or “other wastes” (i.e., household wastes). Further, non-hazardous cannot be imported for final disposal or incineration, although certain non-hazardous wastes can be imported for reuse and recycling. Brazil has adopted the so-called “Basel Ban” which prohibits the export of Basel wastes to non-Convention Parties absent a separate bilateral or multilateral agreement. In theory, export of non-Basel (i.e., non-hazardous) wastes to any country should be unrestricted. However, in practice, federal environmental authorities often require a Basel-like notice and consent procedure even for non-hazardous wastes and can be reluctant to authorize exports of non-hazardous wastes to non-Parties, such as the U.S. Finally, although beyond the scope of this database, companies should be aware that Brazilian States often have restrictions on interstate shipments of wastes.