As part of the United Nations Environment Programme, the UN Basel Convention entered into force on 5th May 1992 in response to the OECD Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste Regulations, which came about in response to the international outrage at the mountains of toxic waste that had been dumped in third world countries for the past two decades. The Convention currently has 117 signatories with 149 countries having ratified it.

It sets the guidelines for where you are allowed to export hazardous waste to and when, for example the waste must be sent to an adequate disposal facility that can deal with the waste in an environmentally sound manner as accredited by the government body (known as the "Competent Authority") such as the Environmental Protection Agency or Ministry of the Environment depending on national laws.