COP-5 Rotterdam Convention strengthens protection against hazardous chemicals

The fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-5) to the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade agreed by consensus to add three pesticides (alachlor, aldicarb and endosulfan) to Annex III of the Convention. The agreement was reached on Friday, 24 June 2011, at the conclusion of a week-long meeting held in Geneva.

The decisions to list three chemicals were among twelve separate decisions adopted at the conference aimed at strengthening the globe’s first line of defence for chemical safety. Amendments to the Convention bringing the three new chemicals under the Prior Informed Consent procedure will enter into force on 24 October 2011. This will raise the number of chemicals covered under the Convention to forty-three.

Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants agreed earlier this year to eliminate endosulfan from production and use globally.

More information: http://temp.pic.int/

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