The Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA) seeks to legalise the importing of waste from Japan, despite an international ban under the Basel Convention.

"Under the name of recycling, it seeks to allow ash from municipal incinerators, waste products from the chemical industry, municipal waste and sewage sludge, among other things, to be exported by Japan to Thailand," said a statement by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and FTA Watch groups. "We condemn the impending pact."

The Foreign Ministry plans to submit the final draft of the JTEPA to the Cabinet this month before organising a public hearing on December 22 and sending the draft to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) in January for approval.

"This attempt is nothing short of criminal. Japan is unashamedly forcing developing countries like Thailand to become its dumping group through a bilateral trade pact," Greenpeace campaigner Kittikhun Kittiaram said.

Bunthoon Srethasirote, an independent researcher at FTA Watch and director of the Strategic Policy on Natural Resource Base Project of the National Human Rights Commission, said the full text of the JTEPA had to be disclosed to the public. "There has been no transparency at all in the procedure of this pact," he said. "Thai negotiators claimed to us that the full draft had been sent to the House of Representatives and Parliament for consideration on June 2. How was that possible when Parliament had already been dissolved by the previous government?" he said.

Buntoon said the pact also lacked an assessment of the social and environmental impact. "Decision-making on the pact should not lie with members of the NLA. We should wait until we have democratically elected representatives," he added.

Kittikhun said both Thailand and Japan were signatories to the Basel Convention, an international treaty that bans trade in hazardous waste, though both countries had failed to ratify the treaty's amendment which bans trading such waste under the guise of recycling.

"Japan's stance on this issue is predatory and an assault on the Thai people and environment," he said.

Last month a Japan-Philippines free-trade deal sparked protests after it was revealed that the pact would allow an unprecedented list of hazardous waste items into the Philippines. Kittikhun called on Southeast Asian countries to ratify the Basel Convention's amendment in order to prevent being flooded by hazardous waste.

Kamol Sukin

The Nation