Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 4 • Number 4 • 5th March 2004

Stockholm and Rotterdam Convention Enter Into Force

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The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) — which bans highly toxic chemicals, including pesticides like DDT — will come into effect on 17 May. The treaty includes 12 harmful chemicals, which do not break down through normal processes but accumulate in the body fat of people, marine mammals and other animals and thus can enter the food chain. Clifton Curtis from WWF commented “The Stockholm Convention is unique in attacking the problem at its source, banning outright or severely restricting some of the world’s most dangerous chemicals”. France, which submitted the 50th ratification on 17 February, triggered its entry into force three months later.

A related pact, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (PIC) became legally binding for its members on 23 February. Under the Convention, countries are only allowed to export certain hazardous chemicals following the importing party’s prior consent. The importing country will be provided with a “decision guidance document” containing information about the chemical and its effects, and the country will have nine months to provide a final decision or an interim response. The PIC Convention also requires labelling on potential health and environmental impacts of traded chemicals. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said developing countries now “will be able to reap benefits that chemicals and pesticides can offer while ensuring that their development is environmentally sustainable,” noting that many pesticides banned in industrialised countries are used in the developing world. Implemented on a voluntary basis since September 1998, the convention includes 27 chemicals on the list for prior consent and notification, including asbestos, parathion and monocrotophos (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 28 November 2003). Fifteen more pesticides are set for inclusion at the first meeting of the Conference of Parties to the PIC Convention, scheduled for 20-24 September this year in Geneva. The convention has been ratified by 60 and signed by 73 countries.

Both conventions are being discussed at the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment under the Doha Ministerial Declaration’s Paragraph 31(i) and (ii) negotiations on the relationship between WTO rules and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), the status of observership for MEA Secretariats and enhanced information exchange between MEA Secretariats and the WTO.

“Prior Informed Consent for Chemical Imports Now the Law,” ENS, 24 February 2004; “Toxic Chemical Warnings Required Under New International Law,” REUTERS, 23 February 2004.