Highlights and images for 23 September 2022

On its closing day, the 18th meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-18) adopted a rationale for its conclusion that a final regulatory action (FRA) notification from Norway on the pesticide chlorfenvinphos meets Rotterdam Convention criteria. If another FRA on the same chemical from another region, such as the one pending from Mozambique, is also deemed to meet Convention criteria, a future meeting of the CRC would recommend to the Conference of the Parties (COP) that chlorfenvinphos be listed for the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure.

In the wake of an extensive and closed “members only” discussion on Thursday about Mozambique’s FRAs on three other pesticides—carbaryl, methidathion and thiodicarb—the Committee tried once again in plenary to break the logjam on adopting rationales on these chemicals. Despite these efforts, four new members asked for more time to study and consider the FRA documentation in question, and in the meantime to request further data on these chemicals from Mozambique. The Committee agreed to defer action on the three chemicals until CRC-19.

The Committee agreed to hold CRC-19 on 2-6 October 2023 at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy, back-to-back with the meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Review Committee (POPRC) of the Stockholm Convention on POPs.

In their closing remarks, Carlos Martin-Novella, Deputy Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Convention Secretariat, Christine Fuell, FAO part of the Rotterdam Secretariat, and CRC-18 Chair Noluzuko Gwayi all praised Committee members for their dedication and hard work. They noted the Committee had managed to send to the next COP decisions and decision guidance documents recommending two chemicals for the PIC procedure, started two others on their way to that stage, and reviewed FRAs of eight other chemicals, some with rationales adopted. Chair Gwayi cautioned, however, that even more work awaits CRC-19.

She gaveled the meeting closed at 12:24 pm.