Highlights and images for 24 September 2021

On the last day of its seventeenth meeting, the Chemical Review Committee (CRC) raced to complete outstanding work on several agenda items, including its reviews of the notifications of final regulatory action for four chemicals: terbufos, thiodicarb, iprodione, and methidathion.

The Committee agreed that the notifications of final regulatory action on the pesticides terbufos, submitted by Mozambique and Canada, and iprodione, submitted by the EU and Mozambique, meet the criteria for listing banned or severely restricted chemicals in the Rotterdam Convention. They adopted the rationales for these conclusions and decided to prepare the relevant draft decision guidance documents. This work will be carried out intersessionally by Committee members, and be considered at the next meeting of the CRC.

Faced with complex technical work, different interpretations of the Convention’s requirements, and limited time for discussion, the Committee could not complete its work on thiodicarb or methidathion. Despite the objections of a small number of observers who argued that these notifications should be set aside, the Committee agreed to forward both agenda items to its next meeting for further consideration. Several members thanked Mozambique for the work they put into their notifications and lamented that support from international organizations in preparing these notifications had been less robust than required for the needs of the Rotterdam Convention.

The Committee will also forward to CRC-18 the three chemicals that could not be addressed during the week due to lack of time: chlorfenvinphos, carbaryl, and methyl parathion.

At the conclusion of the meeting, CRC Chair Noluzuko Gwayi thanked all participants for their commitment and constructive work throughout the week. She commended the Secretariat staff for working late into the night throughout the meeting to facilitate the Committee’s reviews, and expressed hope that the CRC’s next meeting would be face-to-face in “beautiful Rome,” as in previous years. She closed the meeting at 6:16 pm (UTC+2).

Please return to this site on Monday, 27 September 2021 for the Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary and analysis of this meeting.