“This [production date] is meant to be in the documentation accompanying the shipment. It would be a long list for items such as cell phones where there may be many 100’s of phones in a shipment. We question the need as the separate packaging and test requirements already cover the issue of whether this is waste.”

From p. 2 of response by  New Zealand to Basel Secretariat. 2015. ‘Decision BC-12/5 | Technical Guidelines on Transboundary Movements of Electrical and Electronic Waste and Used Electrical and Electronic Equipment, in Particular Regarding the Distinction between Waste and Non-Waste under the Basel Convention’. http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/ConferenceoftheParties/Meetings/COP12/tabid/4248/mctl/ViewDetails/EventModID/8051/EventID/542/xmid/13027/Default.aspx.