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Saturday, 24 September
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Plenary
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UNEP Chemicals Director John Buccini, SAICM PrepCom-3 President Viveka
Bohn, and Matthew Gubb, SAICM Secretariat.
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Donald Hannah, New Zealand, chair of the principles and approaches
contact group, said delegates had not been able to reach an agreement,
as bottom line positions did not overlap.
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Mark Hyman, Australia, clarified that the positions of the delegations
with a strong interest on precaution could not readily be brought together.
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John Arsenau, Canada, proposed new text on principles and approaches,
"in the spirit of moving forward to Dubai."
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Tarek Eid El Ruby, Egypt, asked to retain reference to asbestos.
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Raphael Azeredo, Brazil, who chaired the drafting group on risk reduction,
informed the plenary about the reasons for some parts of the text being
bracketed.
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Yeshey Penjor, Bhutan, on behalf of the least developed countries,
opposed the text in the chapeau of financial considerations.
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Mexico, on behalf of GRULAC, opposed the text in the chapeau of financial
considerations, and supported India's opposition.
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Senegal said the review body should have a strong link to the UN system.
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Bjørn Erikson, ICFTU, supported the insertion of reference to the
ILO convention on chemicals.
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Ivana Halle, Croatia for the Central and Eastern European Group,
supported ICCM taking the lead in the SAICM review process.
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Glenn Wiser, IPEN, said it was deeply troubled by the characterization
of SAICM as voluntary.
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Thomas Jacob, ICCA, preferred language stating that changes may be
needed in the way that some societies manage chemicals.
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Prodipto Ghosh, India, said the text must contain reference to additional
resources in the chapeau on financial considerations.
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Miguel Hildmann, Argentina, said developing countries had been excluded
from consultations leading to the compromise "package deal," and this
was not a very "polite" way of ending the SAICM negotiations.
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Noting that the "glorious thing" about the SAICM was its inclusiveness,
Colin Church, EU, clarified that the "package deal" could be discussed
in Dubai, and it was never intended as a "take it or leave it" deal,
but as a point of compromise for future discussion.
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David Brown, US, clarified that SAICM should not apply to products
regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration.
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Austria said he was honored to welcome delegates to Vienna, thanked them
for coming, and hoped to welcome them back soon.
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President Bohn gaveled the meeting to a close at 12:06 am, Sunday 25
September.
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Translation ended at 8:30 pm, and many delegations were no longer present
when the meeting ended.
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Contact Group on Implementation
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The contact group on Implementation, chaired by Chris Vanden Bilcke,
completed its discussions of the text this morning.
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Around PrepCom-3
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After working late Thursday and Friday nights, delegates queued for
caffeine at lunchtime Saturday.
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Jim Willis, US, formerly UNEP Chemicals Director, reacted to the evening's
difficult negotiations.
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Delegates bid one another farewell after the meeting ended.
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Your ENB team. Front row: Louise Burke, Paula Barrios, Noelle Eckley
Selin. Back row: William McPherson, Nicole Schabus, Dan Birchall,
Changbo Bai. (Photo by John Buccini.)
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Austria Center Vienna, site of SAICM PrepCom-3.
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