Highlights and images for 22 September 2022

On Thursday, the 18th meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-18) adopted a decision and decision guidance document (DGD) recommending the listing of the pesticide iprodione under Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention for the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure.

The Committee agreed on rationales for its conclusion that final regulatory action (FRA) notifications on the pesticides methyl bromide and paraquat meet Rotterdam Convention criteria, paving the way for CRC-19 to consider draft decisions and DGDs on each. The Committee also adopted a work plan for intersessional work on drafting the DGDs.

Because of an incident during the Wednesday evening contact group, Thursday’s session began with a presentation by the Legal Officer of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS) Secretariat about UN rules of conduct at meetings and the consequences for violations thereof. Chair Noluzuko Gwayi also reminded all members that when they joined the CRC they signed declarations that they would serve in their personal capacity as experts, free of conflicts of interests and not representing national positions.

During the course of the morning plenary, members did not agree on rationales for the pesticides chlorfenvinphos, carbaryl, methidathion and thiodicarb, raising new doubts whether the FRAs from Mozambique met all Rotterdam Convention criteria. In the case of chlorfenvinphos, the Committee agreed on the rationale for accepting the FRA from Norway, but delayed consideration of the FRA from Mozambique until CRC-19.  On the other three pesticides, the Chair announced that a special “information consultation” open only to members would be held in the afternoon, and she suspended plenary until Friday morning.