Highlights and images for 22 September 2021

Delegates to the Seventeenth Meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-17) worked under pressure on Wednesday, trying to make up for the time devoted to the unanticipated contact group on issues common to all of Mozambique’s notifications. CRC Chair Noluzuko Gwayi asked participants to focus on individual chemicals, rather than common issues, and delegates spent most of the day working in contact groups on iprodione, thiodicarb, and terbufos.

The contact groups on iprodione and thiodicarb met in parallel in the afternoon (UTC+2). Participants in the contact group on iprodione reviewed the EU’s notification of final regulatory action on this pesticide, and supported the task group’s conclusion that the notification meets all the Annex II criteria for listing banned or severely restricted chemicals in the Rotterdam Convention. In parallel, participants in the thiodicarb contact group discussed the rationale for a conclusion that the EU’s notification of final regulatory action fulfils all the Annex II criteria. The group made minor amendments to the text and worked to address what one observer characterized as “vague language” explaining the Committee’s conclusion. The rationales for the conclusions on each of these chemicals will be considered by the CRC later in the week. 

A third group, on terbufos, convened immediately after the first two concluded. Participants in this group had more difficulty completing their work. They swiftly reached agreement on the draft rationale for the Canadian notification, but their review of Mozambique’s notification required more extensive discussion, particularly on the criterion related to a risk evaluation in Annex II (b)(iii). Ultimately the group drafted a rationale for a conclusion that the criteria are fulfilled, but with some text remaining bracketed. In her report back to plenary, Contact Group Co-Chair Agnieszka Jankowska, Poland, said the group needs more time to reach agreement.

CRC Chair Gwayi encouraged each group to focus on its own mandate, without waiting for the outcomes of other groups. Noting time for the meeting is running out and work on Mozambique’s notifications is ongoing, CRC Chair Gwayi proposed that the Secretariat prepare draft decisions and a draft workplan for development of decision guidance documents for each of these chemicals, in case they are required. She emphasized that these draft decisions could apply to one or both of the notifications for each of the chemicals.

CRC-17 will reconvene on Thursday.