The eighteenth meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-18) of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade convened to complete work assigned to the Committee by the Convention’s Conference of the Parties (COP).

The Rotterdam Convention, which was adopted in 1998, promotes shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among its parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals to protect human health and the environment from potential harm. The Convention facilitates information exchange about these pesticides and industrial chemicals and their characteristics, by providing a national decision-making process on their import and export.

When a party to the Rotterdam Convention takes final regulatory action to ban or severely restrict the import or export of a chemical for environmental or health reasons, it notifies the Convention Secretariat. When the Secretariat receives notifications from two parties in different regions regarding a specific chemical, it forwards the notifications to the CRC. The CRC, which is made up of 31 government-designated experts from around the world, reviews the notifications and decides whether to recommend to the COP, through a draft decision guidance document, listing the relevant substance in Annex III of the Convention. Listing in Annex III subjects the substance to the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure.

The PIC procedure is a mechanism for formally obtaining and disseminating the decisions of importing parties as to whether they wish to receive future shipments of those chemicals listed in Annex III of the Convention and for ensuring compliance with these decisions by exporting parties. Annex III currently lists 52 chemicals, including 35 pesticides, 16 industrial chemicals, and one chemical that is listed as both a pesticide and industrial chemical.

At its eighteenth meeting, the Committee was expected to finalize draft decision guidance documents for two chemicals—iprodione (a fungicide) and terbufos (a pesticide)—for consideration by the COP at its eleventh meeting in 2023. CRC-18 also reviewed notifications of final regulatory action on 10 chemical substances: amitrole, carbaryl, carbon tetrachloride, chlorfenvinphos, methidathion, methyl bromide, methyl parathion, mirex, paraquat and thiodicarb.

CRC-18 met from 19-23 September 2022 at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. Earth Negotiations Bulletin provided daily updates on the proceedings, as well as a comprehensive summary and analysis following the conclusion of the meeting.