These technical guidelines are principally meant to provide guidance to countries who are building their capacity to manage waste in an environmentally sound and efficient way and in their development of detailed procedures or waste management plan or strategy. They should not be used in isolation by the competent authorities for consenting to or rejecting a transboundary movement of hazardous waste, as they are not sufficiently comprehensive for environmentally sound management of hazardous waste and other waste as defined by the Basel Convention. These technical guidelines concern waste generated nationally and disposed of at the national level as well as waste imported as a result of a transboundary movement, or arising from the treatment of imported wastes.