While the fourth Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention managed to keep the threat of amendments to Annex VII at bay, it showed a weak point in the convention which may be attacked again by vested interests. Annex VII had been created at the third Conference of Parties in September 1995. This was essentially to include European countries that were not in the OECD among countries prohibited to export hazardous wastes. It was not meant to be either an open annex or a trading bloc within the convention. The EU, for example, has far stricter hazardous waste export norms than the Basel Convention.

Liechtenstein was added to Annex VII due to its special geopolitical situation. Sharing a customs union with Switzerland, it has no border controls. If Liechtenstein had not been included in Annex VII, it could have been exploited by companies and trade in hazardous wastes would have carried on unhindered.

Thus, what was a clarification and an attempt to plug a loophole has turned into a loophole itself. At COP-IV, numerous attempts were made to