Golden Gate University School of Law GGU Law Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship 11-22-2010 Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): an Alternative Solution to Regulate the International Electronic Waste Trade Tiptira Rammaniya Golden Gate University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/theses Part of the Environmental Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Rammaniya, Tiptira, "Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): an Alternative Solution to Regulate the International Electronic Waste Trade" (2010). Theses and Dissertations. Paper 21. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY (EPR): AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION TO REGULATE THE INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC WASTE TRADE TIPTIRA RAMMANIYA, LL.B., LL.M. SUBMITTED TO THE GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES, IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE CONFERMENT OF THE DEGREE OF SCIENTIAE JURIDICAE DOCTOR (SJD). CHRISTIAN N. OKEKE, LL.M., Dr. Jur., Professor of Law, Director of the LL.M. and S.J.D. International Legal Studies, and Director of the Sompong Sucharitkul Center for Advanced International Legal Studies SOMPONG SUCHARITKUL, D.C.L. (Oxford), Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean Emeritus of International and Comparative Law RUTH ASTLE, J.D., S.J.D., Administrative Judge SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA NOVEMBER 22, 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...........................................................................................1 ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................2 ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................4 A REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE...........................................................7 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................13 CHAPTER I: E-WASTE OVERVIEW ...................................................................19 I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................19 II. DEFINITION OF E-WASTE .....................................................................................23 III. E-WASTE QUANTITY ...........................................................................................27 IV. E-WASTE CHARACTERISTICS ..............................................................................32 A. Hazardous Substances in Electronic Products................................................34 1. Lead ..............................................................................................................34 2. Beryllium......................................................................................................35 3. Cadmium ......................................................................................................36 4. Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) .........................................................37 5. Mercury ........................................................................................................38 6. Hexavalent Chromium or Chromium VI......................................................39 i 7. Plastic and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)..........................................................41 B. Valuable and Precious Materials ....................................................................42 V. E-WASTE MANAGEMENT ......................................................................................44 A. Storage .............................................................................................................44 B. Landfill.............................................................................................................45 C. Incineration .....................................................................................................46 D. Donation and Reuse ........................................................................................48 E. Recycling and Resource Recovery...................................................................49 VI. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................50 CHAPTER II: INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW .........................52 I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................52 II. SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE LAW -MAKING PROCESS ................54 A. Traditional Sources of International Law or “Hard Law” .............................54 1. Treaty............................................................................................................55 2. Custom..........................................................................................................57 3. General Principles of International Law.......................................................58 4. Judicial Decisions and the Writings of publicists ........................................59 B. Non-Traditional Sources: “Soft Law”.............................................................60 III. SUBJECTS OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW : STATES , INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS , AND NON -STATE ACTORS ............................................................62 A. States................................................................................................................63 B. International Organizations ............................................................................65 ii 1. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)......................................67 2. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) ................................69 3. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)..............................69 4. International Court of Justice (ICJ) ..............................................................71 5. Administering Treaties: Conference of the Parties (CoPs), Secretariats, and Subsidiary Bodies.............................................................................................74 C. Non-State Actors: Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Private Sectors ..................................................................................................................75 1. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) ...................................................76 2. Industries and private companies .................................................................79 3. Individuals and Indigenous Communities....................................................80 IV. THE EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ............................81 A. 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment (the Stockholm Conference) ..............................................................................................................................84 B. 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit).........................................................................89 C. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD or the Johannesburg Summit).........................................................................................96 V. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................99 iii CHAPTER III: THE BASEL CONVENTION ON THE CONTROL OF TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTES AND THEIR DISPOSAL (“THE BASEL CONVENTION”).....................................................102 I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................102 II. BACKGROUND ON HAZARDOUS AND E-WASTE TRADE ......................................103 A. Economic and Regulatory Imbalance............................................................105 B. Exporting wastes for the purposes of environmentally sound management..109 C. Trade in wastes with value as secondary raw materials...............................109 III. THE CREATION OF THE BASEL CONVENTION ON THE CONTROL OF TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS OF HAZARDOUS WASTES AND THEIR DISPOSAL .111 IV. PARTIES TO THE BASEL CONVENTION ..............................................................113 V. SCOPE OF THE BASEL CONVENTION ...................................................................116 A. Wastes controlled under the Basel Convention. ............................................118 1. Hazardous Wastes ......................................................................................118 2. Other Wastes ..............................................................................................119 3. E-Waste ......................................................................................................120 B. Waste Excluded from the Scope of the Basel Convention ..........................122 1. Radioactive Wastes ....................................................................................122 2. Wastes from the Normal Operations of a Ship...........................................123 3. E-Waste Destined for Direct Reuse (including repair, refurbish, and upgrade