Summary
On Monday afternoon, the thirteenth meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-13) of the Rotterdam Convention Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade opened. This followed a day and a half of pre-meetings, where task groups met to finalize their reports on the initial reviews of the chemicals under consideration. The Committee has before it notifications of final regulatory actions for 13 chemicals and two severely hazardous pesticide formulations (SHPFs).
CRC Chair Jürgen Helbig (Spain) opened the meeting. Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions, emphasized the importance of the Committee’s work noting that it would inform the third session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-3), addressing pollution in December 2017. Bill Murray, Executive Secretary of the Rotterdam Convention, elaborated on the work of the FAO pesticides management team aimed at strengthening evidence-based decision making for sound chemicals management, highlighting the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit and support to countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Chair Helbig, outlined the agenda and organization of work for the meeting, which the Committee adopted. The Committee also heard a report on the work of the thirteenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC-13), and took note of the information on the rotation of the Committee’s membership.
CRC-13 then began its technical work, reviewing the notifications for final regulatory action for acetochlor and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD). The Committee established two contact groups to discuss the rationale for the acetochlor and HBCD notifications of final regulatory actions.
In the evening, delegates attended a reception hosted by the BRS and FAO parts of the Rotterdam Convention Secretariat.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web highlights and a summary and analysis report from CRC-13. The summary and analysis report is now available in HTML and PDF.
L-R: Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, BRS Conventions; Bill Murray, Executive Secretary of the Rotterdam Convention; and CRC Chair Jürgen Helbig, Spain
A view of the dais during plenary