Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and

specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). It does not, however, address the movement of radioactive waste.

According to the convention, there should be prior decontamination of the ship by the country of export and prior permission from the country of import for the ship to enter its territorial waters. Secondly, the country of export of the ship is required to inform the country of import of the movement of the ship in question and certify that it is non-hazardous and non-toxic. The Supreme Court was informed by Gopal Krishna that such intimation had not been given and the Oriental Nicety had not been certified to be free of hazardous and toxic substances. There is evidence to show that the ship first entered Indian territorial waters without permission from India and without decontamination in the U.S. and then the permission of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) was sought to allow the ship to beach for the purpose of dismantling. July 30, the Supreme Court was faced with a fait accompli (an accomplished fact): the ship had already entered Indian waters and had been certified by the GMB, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Customs authorities and the AERB as being free of hazardous substances.
Ship Breaking Industry in India is one of the largest in the world. It faces tough competition from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Alang is the biggest ship breaking port in India along the Gujarat coast, in Bhavnagar District. It is a 10000Cr. Industry in India. Risks: Ship Breaking gives several useful scrap materials but it also provides a risk as ship also contains several harmful materials (Asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are typical examples, not only this it sometimes contains harmful chemicals which endangers the Coastal ecology. Asbestos was used heavily in ship construction until it was finally banned in most of the developed world in the mid 1980s Now due to conventions in developed countries it has become non-economical to dismantle ships in developed nations, where there are risks of lawsuits, etc. thus developing nations like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh are becoming the destination of this Industry. 1. There have been some cases in India, where in 2006 a French aircraft carrier, Clemenceau was refused to dock on the Indian Coast by the supreme court as it was laden with toxins such as asbestos, PCBs, lead, mercury and other toxic chemicals which was in violation with the Basel Convention, of which India is a signatory.

2. Another one was recently in in May, 2012; Oriental Nicety previously called Exxon Valdez was prevented by the Supreme Court from entering the Indian territorial water, on the account that it contained hazardous waste and toxins which are in violation of Basel convention of which India is a signatory. But later Gujarat maritime board said that they have checked the ship and it does not contain any hazardous material then Supreme Court allowed the Ship to be docked on Alang, Gujarat. 3. The Supreme Court ruled (on 30th July, 2012) that all ships coming for dismantling have to follow Basel Convention and if there is any violation, action should be taken according to the municipal laws. Accordingly, there should be prior decontamination by the country of export and prior permission by the country of import before a ship enters the Indian territorial waters.

The Supreme Court order allowing the dismantling of a U.S. ship at Alang makes a mockery of Indias commitment to the Basel Convention.

In an apparent end to the uncertainty over the fate of Asias largest ship-recycling yard, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has clarified that ship-breaking rules framed under the Supreme Courts orders in 2007 should be followed at Alang-Sosiya and elsewhere, official sources confirmed to The Indian Express. This would clear the air about the last SC verdict that also mentioned following the Basel Convention norms. Both ship-recyclers and government agencies with jurisdiction over Alang-Sosiya were befuddled with the wording of the SCs July 30 judgment that allowed the beaching and subsequent dismantling of the controversial Exxon Valdez. A bench of Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice J Chelameswar had pronounced, ... in all future cases of a similar nature, the concerned authorities shall strictly comply with the norms laid down in the Basel Convention or any other subsequent provisions that may be adopted by the Central government in aid of a clean and pollution free maritime environment, before permitting entry of any vessel suspected to be carrying toxic and hazardous material into Indian territorial waters. The Basel Convention is an international treaty on trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes that has been ratified by India. Its rules on ship-recycling necessitate prior informed consent, a reporting system for ships destined for recyclingand pre-decontamination. Consequently, recyclers at Alang-Sosiya virtually stopped purchasing end-of-life ships. Those that were anchored offshore and waiting to beach were stranded temporarily given apprehensions by officials who wanted to play safe. One of the recyclers main fears was that if Basel and its rule of prior decontamination of ships at the country of origin is to be followed, dead vessels would have to be towed from

foreign countries thereby making it either very expensive or next to impossible to import them. On the other hand, the 2007 rules does not make such demands, have been implemented at Alang-Sosiya since they came into force and have not had major impact on business. Meanwhile, environmental activists remain sceptical and routinely raise the issue of alleged lack of workers safety and waste-management systems at the yard. Lately, they have rued the non-implementation of Basel rules.