Summary
The fifteenth meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-15) of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade opened for a three-day session.
The CRC is mandated to review the final regulatory actions (FRAs) that parties take on chemicals. If two regulatory actions taken by countries from two PIC regions meet the criteria, then the Committee may recommend that the chemical be listed in the Rotterdam Convention.
Chair Noluzuko “Zukie” Gwayi (South Africa), welcomed delegates, encouraging them to engage constructively in the important work of the Committee.
After reviewing the outcomes of the recent Rotterdam Convention COP and of the fifteenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC-15), the CRC turned to its technical work.
CRC-14 began consideration of the draft decision guidance document (DGD) for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds. PFOA, its salts and related compounds have a number of uses, including, among several others, in non-stick cookware, stain-resistant carpets and fabrics.
The Committee then looked at the review of notifications of FRA for:
- amitrole (used as a herbicide), submitted by the EU and Thailand;
- decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE, used as a flame retardant), submitted by Canada, Japan, and Norway; and
- nonylphenols and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPs/NPEs, used as surfactants in the manufacture of laundry detergents, personal hygiene, automotive, latex paints, and garden care products), submitted by the EU, South Africa, and Switzerland.
The notifications from Thailand and South Africa were not found to meet all the criteria set out in Annex II to the Convention. Discussions on these technical matters will continue throughout the session and Tuesday afternoon ended with a contact group on the PFOA DGD.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) meeting coverage, has provided daily web updates and a summary and analysis report from CRC-15. The summary and analysis is now available in HTML and PDF.
