Import of Batteries

This decree allows the import of used or new lead-acid batteries into Honduras, but only for recycling in authorized industries with environmental certifications. Companies must register with Mi Ambiente, comply with international safety standards, and ensure that all toxic waste is re-exported or transformed into safe products, never burned or buried in the country.

Whereas Article 145 of the Constitution of the Republic recognizes the right to health protection and assigns to the State the duty to preserve an adequate environment to protect the health of persons, fauna, and flora.

Whereas the Honduran State is a signatory to International Treaties aimed at reducing health and environmental risks associated with waste such as the STOCKHOLM CONVENTION ON PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS, BASEL CONVENTION ON THE TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTES AND THEIR DISPOSAL, FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE, and MINAMATA CONVENTION ON MERCURY, among others that help contribute to maintaining a healthy environment.

Whereas, in consonance with international regulations, the Health Code and the General Environmental Law establish general provisions to prevent or correct environmental contamination; the foregoing without prejudice to protecting industry whose investment generates sources of employment, provided that it complies with all safety measures, certifications, and environmental authorizations that guarantee there is no danger of contamination in the materials that are handled nor that it harms the environment.

Whereas it is necessary and an obligation of each State office, as well as of each Honduran, to prevent Honduras from becoming a dumping ground for other nations and that, therefore, all actions must be directed toward preventing any toxic material or pollutant for industrial purposes that enters the country from doing so in an orderly and authorized manner and never in a clandestine manner without proper control with the consequent environmental damage.

Whereas it is important and urgent to take measures to prevent crises and emergencies due to improper management of waste or refuse that generate significant environmental impacts that increase vulnerability to natural disasters and that would be handled and discharged without knowledge of the authorities, entering or leaving transported without proper safety.

Whereas it is crucial to create and strengthen the capacities of government institutions to exercise their function of regulating and ensuring that the best environmental techniques and practices are carried out in all stages of waste management until final disposal is achieved.

Whereas the importance and significance of the environmental problem requires an organization and administrative structure that responds in a coherent, harmonious, and comprehensive manner to our environmental situation and that community participation is essential to achieve the protection, conservation, and rational use of the country's natural wealth and the environment in general.

Whereas it is of utmost importance that there continues to exist in the country industrial companies dedicated to the complete recycling of batteries in a conscious, responsible, and legally authorized manner and that by using all the safety measures and procedures established by the Basel Convention in harmony with the guidance of the Secretariat of Environment, it should be strengthened so that the necessary volumes are imported for recycling to be sufficient to maintain an efficient industry in the country, always supported by social and economic aspects and as a generator of sources of employment and foreign exchange and under strict environmental control.

Whereas, in accordance with Article 205, Attribution 1) of the Constitution of the Republic, it is within the power of the National Congress to: Create, decree, interpret, reform, and repeal laws.