ICRC-5 met from 2-6 February 2004 in Geneva, Switzerland.

At the meeting, the expert committee discussed notifications of final regulatory action to ban or severely restrict five chemicals: Dimefox, Endrin, Endosulfan, Mevinphos, and Vinclozolin. In addition, the committee considered draft Decision Guidance Documents (DGDs) on Tetraethyl Lead and Tetramethyl Lead and Parathion, and prepared recommendations for the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) on their inclusion in the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure.
On the notifications received, the Committee did not recommend any of the five to be subject to the interim PIC procedure, because the notifications did not meet all the criteria listed in Annex II (most notably, b(iii) dealing with risk evaluation). The Committee also elaborated in an explanatory note the minimum requirements for a risk evaluation to fulfill this criterion. On Endrin, the Chair noted that information received by the committee indicated that trade in the chemical had already ceased, and that no further action would be necessary. On Tetraethyl and Tetramethyl Lead and Parathion, the Committee approved draft DGDs and prepared recommendations for their inclusion in the interim procedure, to be forwarded to the INC. During the meeting, a contact group also met to identify a list of alternatives to chrysotile asbestos, which could be transmitted to the International Programme on Chemical Safety for assessment of their health effects. More information and documents from ICRC-5 can be accessed online at the Rotterdam Convention’s web site: http://www.pic.int