A/HRC/12/26 page 15 the same time it may be defined as a ship under other international rules”.15 This means that a ship containing asbestos, PCBs or other hazardous wastes may be considered as hazardous waste when destined for recycling or disposal. Nevertheless, the simultaneous application of different legal instruments may create loopholes that could be exploited by shipowners to circumvent the application of the Basel Convention. Furthermore, the decision to recycle is often taken while the ship is on the high seas, making it more difficult to identify the competent authority and to enforce the Convention. There is also the situation where ships may reflag prior to their dismantling, potentially avoiding controls enforced by the Convention. 42. In 1995, the PIC procedure was strengthened by a decision of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention to prohibit all transboundary movements of hazardous and other wastes from countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries.16 The “Ban Amendment” has not yet received a sufficient number of ratifications for its entry into force, but has already been given effect within the European Union, even in cases where the exported wastes are destined for recycling.17 Were the Ban Amendment to enter into force, it would, in principle, prohibit the movement of ships for scrapping between those developed and developing countries which have ratified it. However, the same issues of application and enforcement discussed in the previous paragraph would still apply. 43. Recognizing the difficulties in applying the Basel Convention to ships destined for dismantling, Basel Convention parties and the Secretariat participated in the negotiations that led to the adoption of a legally binding instrument on ship recycling under the auspices of IMO (see paragraphs 53-60 below). Parties wish to ensure that the new Convention establishes an equivalent level of control as that established under the Basel Convention.18 A preliminary assessment of equivalency will be made at the seventh session of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention, to be held in May 2010. These results will be transmitted to the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, scheduled to be held in October 2011, at which time it is anticipated that a final assessment of equivalency will be undertaken and action taken as appropriate. Should the parties determine that equivalency has been met, they would consider options for excluding ships covered by the new international regime from the scope of the Basel Convention. 44. The sixth Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention adopted, in December 2002, the Technical Guidelines for the Environmentally Sound Management of the Full and Partial 15 Decision VII/26 of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention. See UNEP/CHW.7/33, annex I. 16 Decision III/1 of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention. See UNEP/CHW.3/35. 17 18 Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 on shipments of waste. See Decisions VII/26, VIII/11 and IX/30 of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention. See UNEP/CHW.7/33, annex I; UNEP/CHW.8/16, annex I and UNEP/CHW.8/16/Corr.1; and UNEP/CHW.9/39, annex I, respectively.