Explainer Series: Rotterdam Convention
The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (1998).
INTRODUCTION
Accounts of human suffering and environmental contamination in the developing countries is often attributed to the lack of awareness in the use of hazardous chemicals and pesticides.
Using hazardous chemicals in pesticides, herbicides and insecticides which forms an integral part of the modern agriculture pollutes the earth’s groundwater resource, as well as nearby water bodies and aquatic life. They can seriously harm farmers at work and children at play by contaminating the soil. Although developing countries use only 25% of global pesticide production, they account for 99% of pesticide-related deaths. While the majority of nations have pesticide review and regulatory programmes, developing countries lack comparable programmes for industrial chemicals and pesticides such as dichloro- diphenyl- trichloride(“DDT) and dibromo-chloropropane (“DBCP”). This makes it difficult for these countries to make informed decisions concerning industrial chemical imports.This necessitates the bridging of the knowledge gap between the industrialized (hazardous chemicals exporting) and developing (hazardous chemicals importing) countries. In such narratives, improved provision of information on the risks of the hazardous chemicals and pesticides will enable the developing countries to make informed decisions on future importations and control the risks of the hazardous chemicals and pesticides. This is the basic premise underlying the major global governance framework, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade.
The Rotterdam Convention assists Parties in guarding against unauthorised imports of hazardous chemicals. It is a global system open to all governments that enables the exchange of information about hazardous chemical trade between countries. As a result, its efficient implementation protects people worldwide from the detrimental effects of chemicals.
HISTORY OF THE CONVENTION
In the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil (Rio Earth Summit), the Member States adopted Chapter 19 of Agenda 21, which sought a legally binding instrument to deal with movement of hazardous chemicals and pesticides by the year 2000. This led to the formulation of the Convention.
Mr Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme (“UNEP”), and Mr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of Food and agricultural organisation (“FAO”) jointly convened five sessions of the Inter-governmental Negotiating Committee for an International legally binding agreement for the application of the Rotterdam Convention. At the fifth session, the Negotiating committee agreed upon the text of the Convention. Upon the invitation by the Government of the Kingdom of Netherlands, the Executive Director of UNEP and the Director-General of FAO convened the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Convention in Rotterdam on 10 and 11 September 1998. This was a diplomatic conference for the adoption and signature of the Convention. It entered into force on 23 February 2004.
THE PROCEDURE
The objective as stated in the Article 1 of the convention is to regulate the international trade in hazardous chemicals to protect human health and the environment by facilitating information exchange about the characteristics of the chemicals, establishing a national decision making process on their import and export and communicate these decisions to all the parties. This convention applies to the (a) banned or severely restricted chemicals and (b)severely hazardous pesticide formulations. The chemicals that fall into category (a) are the ones prohibited by the final regulatory action. This is an action taken by a Party to ban or severely restrict a chemical. The chemicals under (b) are the ones formulated for pesticide use that produce severe health or environmental effects observable after a single or multiple exposures in a short period of time. These chemicals are listed under Annex III of the convention and are subject to the Prior informed consent procedure(“PIC”).
If a party wishes to list a chemical or pesticide in Annex III of the convention, it must notify its final regulatory action to the Secretariat. The secretariat functions for this Convention are performed jointly by the Executive Director of UNEP and the Director-General of FAO. On receiving at least one notification from each of the two PIC regions, the Secretariat shall forward it to the Chemical Review Committee. After reviewing the notification, the committee shall convey its recommendation to the Conference of Parties (“COP”), which meets every two years. Upon reaching consensus, the COP can list the chemical under Annex III of the convention. Currently, there are a total of 52 chemicals listed in Annex III, 35 pesticides (including three severely hazardous pesticide formulations), 16 industrial chemicals, and one chemical in both the pesticide and the industrial chemical categories.
Transparency in the form of governance by disclosure through prior informed consent (“PIC”) and exchange of information on a broad range of potentially hazardous chemicals, are the key pillars of this convention. According to the PIC procedure, the importing parties can decide as to whether they wish to receive future shipments of the chemicals listed in Annex III of the Convention. The exporting parties are required to stay compliant with the decision made. For each chemical listed in Annex III of the Convention and subject to the PIC procedure a Decision Guidance Document (“DGD”) is prepared. It sets out the scope of the chemical subject to the PIC procedure. It contains essential information on the chemical, its hazard classification, additional sources of information on the chemical and information on possible alternatives. Every member state receives this document and can refer to this to make import-related decisions.
The member states shall also facilitate the exchange of scientific, technical, economic and legal information concerning the chemicals within the scope of the convention. If any party requires any information about the transit movements of chemicals listed in Annex III through its territory, they may report it to the Secretariat, which will then inform the Parties accordingly.
REGULATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL
A party exporting any chemical that has been banned or severely restricted in their territory should provide an export notification to the importing party beforehand. Only on receiving an acknowledgement from the designated national authority (“DNA”) can the party advance with the export.
India acceded to the convention on 24th May 2006 and has shown its commitment to the convention by delegating the DNA’s comprising-
1. Rotterdam Convention Designated national authority for pesticides under the Department of Agricultural and Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture led by the Deputy Secretary Mr Sudhir Kumar.
2. Rotterdam Convention Designated national authority for industrial chemicals under the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers led by Joint Secretary Mr Shri Samir Kumar Biswas.
3. Rotterdam Convention Official contact point under the Hazardous Substances Management Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Under the Rotterdam Convention, India added two new chemicals (Phorate and HBCD) to the mandatory PIC procedure in international trade, setting the tone at the COP 2019 meeting.
THE LIFE CYCLE APPROACH
The Rotterdam Convention, along with the Basel Convention on the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, ensures that hazardous chemicals are managed in a life-cycle approach, thereby ensuring that chemicals are handled in the most environmentally sound manner from the cradle to the grave, and thus ensures that 'no one is left behind.'
Despite the enormous hurdles posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, over 160 Parties and 1300 participants to Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm conventions convened virtually from July 26 to July 30, 2021, and made significant decisions to achieve the conventions’ goal. A significant milestone was attained under the Rotterdam Convention with the first-ever election of members of the Compliance Committee, whose role is to help individual Parties in resolving compliance issues and also to analyse systemic compliance issues. Two hazardous pesticides, Terbfos and Iprodione, were recommended for inclusion in Annex III at the 17th meeting of the Rotterdam Convention's Chemical Review Committee(“CRC”), which convened online from 20 to 24 September 2021 and brought together over one hundred experts representing a diverse range of stakeholders from over 50 countries. Decisions regarding the recommendations will be made following the discussion at the 11th meeting of COP 11 in 2023.
THE CHALLENGES
I believe that the Convention is a viable means of enforcing the prohibition on hazardous chemical imports by parties. However, implementation on the ground will be successful only if the national regulation is enough. Different countries approach the Convention from a variety of legal and cultural perspectives. A possible answer to this issue could be the guide for developing National laws to implement the Rotterdam Convention, which can assist nations by giving the fundamental parts of an effective legal system for implementing the Convention. While the Convention has been essential in raising public awareness of dangerous substances, it still falls short in a few areas. This can be addressed by providing financial and technical assistance to developing countries and by establishing a significant role for NGO's. The parties, particularly the industrialised nations, should consciously think about chemicals listing in Annex III with environmental preservation in mind, rather than exclusively for financial gain upon its application.
Comments