Key Benefits:
430 OF 1998
(January 16)
Official Journal No. 43,219 of 21 January 1998
1252 2008 >
For which prohibitive environmental standards are dictated, concerning hazardous wastes and other provisions are dictated.
COLOMBIA CONGRESS
DECRETA:
OBJECT, PRINCIPLES, PROHIBITION, ILLICIT TRAFFIC
AND INFRASTRUCTURE
ARTICLE 1o. OBJECT. 1252 of 2008 > This law will have as its object, to regulate everything related to the prohibition of the introduction of dangerous wastes into the national territory, in any modality as established in the Basel Convention and its annexes, and with the responsibility for the integral management of the generated in the country and in the process of production, management and management of the same, also regulates the infrastructure of which the customs authorities and free zones must be equipped port, in order to detect in a technical and scientific manner the introduction of such waste, (i) penalties in Law 99 of 1993 for those who violate the content of this law and allow the use of lubricating oils in waste, in order to produce electrical energy.
ARTICLE 2o. PRINCIPLES. 1252 of 2008 > In order to establish the scope and content of this law, the following principles must be observed:
1. Minimise the generation of hazardous waste, preventing the occurrence of hazardous waste or reducing its hazardous characteristics.
2. To prevent the illegal entry and trafficking of hazardous waste from other countries, which Colombia is not able to handle in a rational manner and represent exclusive and unacceptable risks.
3. Design strategies to stabilize the generation of hazardous waste in industries with obsolete and polluting processes.
4. Establish policies and implement actions to replace polluting production processes with clean processes, induce technological innovation or transfer of appropriate technologies, form the specialized human resources of support, to study and apply the appropriate economic instruments to national conditions, in order to induce change in production processes and patterns of consumption.
5. Reduce the amount of hazardous waste that must go to the final disposal sites, by making maximum use of the raw materials, energy and natural resources used, where the waste is feasible and ecologically acceptable derivatives of the production processes.
6. Generate the technical capacity for the management and treatment of hazardous wastes that are necessarily going to be produced in spite of the minimization efforts.
7. Dispose of the waste with minimal environmental impact and human health, treating them previously, as well as their tributaries, before they are released into the environment.
ARTICLE 3o. BAN. 1252 2008 > No natural or legal person may introduce or import hazardous wastes without complying with the procedures laid down for that purpose in the Basel Convention and its Annexes.
ARTICLE 4. ILLICIT TRAFFICKING. 1252 of 2008 > Who intends to introduce cargo in which the presence of hazardous wastes is detected in the national territory or illegally enter this cargo, must return it without any delay and under its exclusive liability, without prejudice to the criminal penalties to be imposed.
ARTICLE 5o. INFRASTRUCTURE. 1252 of 2008 > The National Government will provide the customs authorities with external and environmental trade, with all the necessary mechanisms and procedures to detect irregularities in the import procedures hazardous wastes used as secondary raw materials or hazardous wastes intended for disposal in the national territory and shall provide the free zones and port of special laboratories and specialised technical personnel with the object to analyse the products and materials that are received and to be able to detect and reject in a technical and scientific manner the illicit traffic of dangerous elements, materials or wastes, of which they have no technical and scientific reasons and which shall not be handled rationally in accordance with the provisions of the Convention of Basel.
CHAPTER II.
RESPONSIBILITY
ARTICLE 6o. GENERATOR LIABILITY. 1252 2008 > The generator will be responsible for the waste it generates. The responsibility extends to its tributaries, emissions, products and by-products for all the health and environmental effects.
PARAGRAFO. The manufacturer or importer of a product or chemical with dangerous property, for the purposes of this law, is equipped with a generator, in terms of liability for handling the packaging and residues of the product or substance.
ARTICLE 7o. SUBSISTENCE OF THE LIABILITY. 1252 of 2008 > The integral responsibility of the generator remains until the hazardous waste is used as input or ready with definitive character.
ARTICLE 8o. RECEIVER LIABILITY. 1252 of 2008 > The hazardous waste recipient will assume the integral responsibility of the generator, once it receives it from the transporter and has made or verified the use or final disposal of the same.
PARAGRAFO 1o. While the use or final disposal of the residue has not been performed and checked, the receiver is jointly and severally liable with the generator.
PARAGRAFO 2o. The responsibility of this article includes monitoring, diagnosis and remediation of soil, surface water, and groundwater in the event of contamination by these residues.
ARTICLE 9o. CHEMICAL CONTENT NOT DECLARED. 1252 2008 > The generator will continue to be responsible in an integral way for the health or environmental effects of an undeclared chemical or biological content to the recipient and the environmental authority.
OTHER PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 10. 1252 of 2008 > It is the obligation of the generator or producer of the hazardous waste to perform the physico-chemical characterization of the same through special laboratories duly authorized by the competent bodies and to inform the natural or legal persons who are responsible for the storage, collection and transport, processing or final disposal thereof.
ARTICLE 11. SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL. 1252 of 2008 > The environmental authority of the respective jurisdiction, in coordination with the health, police, foreign trade and customs authorities as the case may be, shall comply with the functions of the surveillance and control in accordance with the provisions of this law.
ARTICLE 12. WASTE LUBRICATING OILS. 1252 of 2008 > The use of waste lubricating oils for the generation of electric power will only be allowed if they are generated in the country and with the fulfilment of the conditions and requirements that for the set effect
the competent authorities. The National Government will establish mechanisms to promote the use of this type of technology.
ARTICLE 13. SANTIONS. 1252 of 2008 > In case of violation of the prohibitions defined in this law, the environmental authorities of your jurisdiction will impose the penalties provided for in article 85 of Law 99 of 1993 and its regulatory provisions, without prejudice to the respective criminal penalty.
ARTICLE 14. VALIDITY. 1252 of 2008 > This law governs from the date of its promulgation and repeals the provisions that are contrary to it.
The President of the honorable Senate of the Republic,
Amylkar Acosta Medina.
The Secretary General of the honorable Senate of the Republic,
Pedro Pumarejo Vega.
The President of the honorable House of Representatives,
Carlos Ardila Ballesteros.
The Secretary General of the honorable House of Representatives,
Diego Vivas Tafur.
Republic of Colombia-National Government.
Publish and execute.
Dada en Santa Fe de Bogota, D. C., on January 16, 1998.
CARLOS LEMOS SIMMONDS
The Minister of Justice and Law,
Almabeatriz Rengifo Lopez.
The Minister of Finance and Public Credit,
Antonio Jose Urdinola Uribe.
The Minister of the Environment,
Eduardo Verano de la Rosa.
