C 2003/INF/20

Conference

A. Background

1. The Rotterdam Convention is expected to enter into force by the end of 2003 with the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) being convened no more than one year later.

2. In 1989, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council and the FAO Conference included the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure for pesticides and other chemicals that are banned or severely restricted in the "Amended London Guidelines on the Exchange of Information on Chemicals in International Trade" and the "International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides," respectively. Since then, UNEP and FAO have jointly executed the voluntary PIC procedure.

3. In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Agenda 21, Chapter 19, made recommendations for the conclusion of a legally-binding instrument on PIC. In para. 19.39d UNCED recommended that governments and relevant international organizations, with the cooperation of industry, “should implement the PIC procedure as soon as possible and, in the light of experience gained, invite relevant international organizations such as UNEP, GATT, FAO, WHO and others in their respective area of competence to consider working expeditiously towards the conclusion of legally-binding instruments.”

4. The FAO Council at its Hundred-and-seventh Session in November 1994 “agreed that the Secretariat should proceed with the preparation of a draft legally-binding instrument on the operation of the PIC procedure as part of the joint FAO/UNEP programme on Prior Informed Consent and in cooperation with other international and non-governmental organizations concerned.” ¹

5. The Governing Council of UNEP, at its Eighteenth Session in May 1995, discussed the progress made and action required for the development of a legally-binding instrument. In Decision GC.18/12, it authorized the Executive Director to prepare for and convene, together with FAO, an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC/PIC), with a mandate to prepare an international legally-binding instrument for the application of the Prior Informed Consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade.

6. In line with the guidance provided by their respective governing bodies, UNEP and FAO convened five meetings of the INC/PIC between March 1996 and April 1998. Governments, inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations attended the negotiating sessions. The negotiations were chiefly funded through voluntary contributions by a number of negotiating parties.

7. In considering the status of the negotiations, the Twenty-ninth Session of the Conference of FAO in 1997 and the fifth special session of the Governing Council of UNEP in 1998:

• authorized the participation of the UNEP and FAO Secretariat in an Interim Secretariat and in a Secretariat to the Convention, if so desired during the negotiations and adopted by the Diplomatic Conference (that would adopt the Convention), provided that such arrangements were satisfactory to the Executive Director and the Director-General and that costs additional to the implementation of the present voluntary procedure be met from extra-budgetary resources.
• agreed to accept changes in the voluntary procedure PIC procedure, if so decided by the Diplomatic Conference, provided that costs additional to the implementation of the present voluntary procedure be met from extra-budgetary resources.

8. The negotiations were concluded at the fifth session of the INC/PIC in March 1998 and a final Convention text was drafted. This text was subsequently adopted as the “Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade” by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries on 10 September 1998 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The Convention remained open for signature for one year. During the signature period, 72 States and one regional economic integration organization signed the Convention.

9. In considering the outcome of the negotiations, the Thirtieth Session of the FAO Conference in 1999 expressed its satisfaction at the successful conclusion of the negotiations and the adoption of the Convention in Rotterdam. It favourably viewed the cooperation of FAO and UNEP both in the negotiations of the Convention and the joint provision of the Interim Secretariat. The Conference supported the primary role of FAO and UNEP in the Interim Secretariat and the Convention Secretariat.²

10. In the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, countries participating in the World Summit on Sustainable Development agreed to “promote the ratification and implementation of relevant international instruments on chemicals and hazardous waste, including the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent Procedures for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade so that it can enter into force by 2003 and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants so that it can enter into force by 2004, and encourage and improve coordination as well as supporting developing countries in their implementation.” ³

B. CURRENT STATUS

11. Since September 1998 there have been three further sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee. The tenth session is scheduled for 17 – 21 November 2003 in Geneva.

12. The Convention will enter into force on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. The first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) must be held not later than one year after the date of entry into force of the Convention.

13. Given that 46 Parties ratified the Convention in the period September 1998 to August 2003, and assuming that governments continue to ratify at this rate, it is anticipated that the Convention will enter into force by December 2003 and that the first meeting of the Governing Body of the Convention, the Conference of the Parties (COP), will be convened in late 2004.

14. At its first meeting the COP will address important questions including dispute settlement, compliance, financial rules, arrangements for the permanent Secretariat and will take measures for the transition from the voluntary PIC procedure to the the legally binding procedure as mandated under the Convention. Arrangements for the permanent Secretariat will need to be agreed between FAO and UNEP and approved by the COP.

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¹ CL 107/REP, 1994, paras 44-50.

² C 99/REP, 1999, paras 72-76.

³ “Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development,” Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August to 4 September 2002, para 23a.