16th Meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-16) of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sixteenth Meeting of the Chemical Review Committee of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (CRC-16) will convene online. Plenary sessions will take place online each day from 8 to 11 September 2020 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm (UTC+2). If possible, contact/drafting groups will be held in the same time slot.

The Committee will consider two substantive issues: the draft decision guidance for decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE), and a notification of final regulatory action on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

At its fifteenth meeting, the CRC reviewed notifications of final regulatory action for decaBDE submitted by Canada, Japan, and Norway and recommended listing this substance in Annex III to the Rotterdam Convention as an industrial chemical. DecaBDE is used as a flame retardant in a wide variety of products, including electronic equipment, textiles, mattresses, vehicles, and construction materials. This substance has been found to be persistent, bioacummulative, and toxic to humans and wildlife, and can be released into the environment during production, use, and disposal of these items.

The CRC will also seek to finalize the draft decision guidance document and forward it, along with its recommendation to list decaBDE in Annex III, for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its tenth meeting in July 2021.

Additionally, the CRC will review a notification of final regulatory action on PFOA, its salts, and PFOA-related compounds, submitted by Norway. PFOA and its related compounds are widely used in products such as non-stick cookware, stain-resistant carpets, and fabrics.

The Committee has considered PFOA before. At CRC-14, the Committee agreed that the notifications of Norway and Canada’s actions on PFOA, its salts and related compounds met the Convention’s criteria and recommended that the chemical should be listed in Annex III to the Convention. The Committee set up an intersessional working group to draft a decision guidance document (DGD), which was considered at CRC-15. Debate focused on how to reflect the many PFOA-related compounds, as the notifications of final regulatory action included different lists of chemicals. Several members thought that only PFOA-related chemicals included in both notifications should be included. The Committee adopted the DGD, including only those related compounds in both notifications, but agreed that the list could be updated upon receipt of further information. At this meeting, the Committee will consider additional information from Norway that could broaden the scope of chemicals that would be listed in the Convention and included in the PIC procedure.

Please see the Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary and analysis of CRC-15 for more information about the CRC’s recent work and what to expect from CRC-16.