UN Report

March 10, 2004   Convention on Trade in Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides Enters into Force
The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade entered into force on February 24.   "This treaty will enable developing countries to avoid many of the mistakes made in the richer countries, where the misuse of chemicals and pesticides has too often harmed or killed people and damaged the environment," said Klaus Töpfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).  "In this way all countries will be able to reap the benefits that chemicals and pesticides can offer while ensuring that their development is environmentally sustainable."
The convention is designed to help countries avoid using pesticides that are recognized to be harmful to human health and the environment and highly toxic pesticides that cannot be handled safely by small farmers in developing countries.   Negotiated under the aegis of the Food and Agriculture Organization and UNEP, the Rotterdam Convention empowers countries to decide which potentially hazardous chemicals covered by the treaty they are prepared to import and to exclude those they cannot manage safely.  Where trade is permitted, requirements for labeling and providing information on potential health and environmental effects will promote the safer use of these chemicals.   The convention has actually been implemented on a voluntary basis since September 1998 in the form of the interim PIC procedure.  This interim period has provided an opportunity to gain experience and to develop operational procedures that should allow for a fast start in implementing the legally binding convention.   The Rotterdam Convention covers 27 chemicals, but as many as 15 more pesticides and industrial chemicals that have been identified during the interim PIC procedure are also flagged for inclusion at the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 1) to the convention.  They include a range of highly toxic pesticides traded internationally, such as parathion and monocrotophos, as well as five additional forms of asbestos (including chrysotile asbestos, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of asbestos presently used and traded).   COP1 will convene this September in Geneva.  In addition to incorporating additional chemicals into the convention, the meeting will establish a chemical review committee that will evaluate future chemicals for the convention's list and consider such issues as its relationship to the World Trade Organization.   As of February 19, there were 60 state parties to the treaty.  The United States has signed the convention, but it awaits ratification by the Senate.   More UN Reports   More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

 

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