The eleventh meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-11) to the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade discussed guidance documents for several chemicals as well as the importance of sound management of chemicals for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
28 October 2015: The eleventh meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-11) to the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade discussed guidance documents for several chemicals as well as the importance of sound management of chemicals for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The meeting took place from 26-28 October 2015 in Rome, Italy. In total, 60 participants attended the meeting, including 26 Committee members, 21 government and party observers, and 13 representatives of non-governmental organizations.
CRC-11 adopted draft decision guidance documents (DGDs) on short-chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), and on tributyltin (TBT) compounds, and forwarded both to the Conference of the Parties (COP) for its consideration. The Committee also recommended that the COP make carbofuran and carbosulfan subject to the PIC Procedure, and decided to prepare draft DGDs on both substances. On atrazine, the CRC agreed to defer consideration of the notifications from both the European Union (EU) and the Sahelian region until CRC-12.
Jürgen Helbig (Spain), CRC Chair, opened the eleventh CRC meeting, welcoming all participants and noting the importance of the newly adopted 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for sound chemicals management.
William Murray, Executive Secretary, of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) part of the Rotterdam Convention, discussed the decision on highly hazardous pesticides taken by the Fourth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) and the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit, underscoring that the CRC is an important knowledge-sharing process, and that its decisions serve as the basis for the COP’s decisions.
Kerstin Stendahl, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, thanked the Committee for its tremendous contributions to the Rotterdam Convention. She said the CRC plays an important role in: effective communication to implement the new SDGs; the intersessional work for listing chemicals; and the interface between science and policy to enhance science-based action. [IISD RS coverage of CRC-11]