Since the United Nations amended the Basel Convention in 1998 by adding a further two waste lists, the OECD decided to amend Decision C(92)39/Final to harmonise the OECD and the Basel Convention control systems. Therefore, this latest Regulation was adopted on 21st May 2001 for that purpose.

The OECD Regulation, which covers waste destined for recovery operations, has two control procedures – the Green control procedure and the Amber control procedure. It specifies the conditions for the Amber control procedure, such as the need for a valid written contract or chain of contracts, the audit trail and the requirement for a financial guarantee to be in place to cover the shipment.