Kiri

Saatja: BRS Secretariat (No-Reply) <[email protected]> Saadetud: 15.02.2023 18:15 Teema: Webinars convened by the proponents of the proposal to amend Articles 7, 10, 11 and 22 of the Rotterdam Convention and to add a new Annex VIII Manused: Proposal to amend RC and explanatory note_Arabic.docx; Proposal to amend RC and explanatory note_Chinese.docx; Proposal to amend RC and explanatory note_English.docx; Proposal to amend RC and explanatory note_French.docx; Proposal to amend RC and explanatory note_Russian.docx; Proposal to amend RC and explanatory note_Spanish.docx Dear Sir, dear Madam, We bring to your attention five webinars convened by the proponents of the proposal to amend Articles 7, 10, 11 and 22 of the Rotterdam Convention and to add a new Annex VIII, to be considered by the Conference of the Parties during its eleventh meeting (1-12 May 2023).  Thursday, 9 March 2023 from 08:30 to 10:00 for the Asia and Pacific region (session in English) - Register  Thursday, 9 March 2023 from 11:00 to 12:30 for the Africa region (session in English) -Register  Thursday, 9 March 2023 from 15:00 to 16:30 for the Africa region (session in French) - Register  Tuesday, 14 March 2023 from 09:00 to 10:30 for the Eastern European region (session in English) - Register  Monday, 14 March 2023 from 16:00 to 17:30 for the Latin American and the Caribbean region (session in English) - Register You will find attached for your convenience the amendment proposal and associated explanatory note in the six languages of the United Nations as transmitted by the Secretariat to Parties on 27 October 2022. Comments from Parties and observers on the proposal are available on the website. In addition, the proponents have published a brochure and produced a short video to explain their proposal. The video is available in English, French and Spanish. For more information, please proceed here. We look forward to welcoming you. The Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Proposal by Switzerland , Australia and Mali to amend Articles 7, 10, 11 and 22 of the Rotterdam Convention and to add a new Annex VIII Note: the proposed amendments are shown in track change mode ARTICLE 7 Listing of chemicals in Annex es III and VIII For each chemical that the Chemical Review Committee has decided to recommend for listing in Annex III, it shall prepare a draft decision guidance document. The decision guidance document should, at a minimum, be based on the information specified in Annex I, or, as the case may be, Annex IV, and include information on uses of the chemical in a category other than the category for which the final regulatory action applies. The recommendation referred to in paragraph 1 together with the draft decision guidance document shall be forwarded to the Conference of the Parties. The Conference of the Parties shall decide whether the chemical should be made subject to the Prior Informed Consent procedure or subject to explicit consent and, accordingly, list the chemical in Annex III or in Annex VIII , and approve the draft decision guidance document. When a decision to list a chemical in Annex III or in Annex VIII has been taken and the related decision guidance document has been approved by the Conference of the Parties, the Secretariat shall forthwith communicate this information to all Parties. ARTICLE 10 Obligations in relation to imports of chemicals listed in Annex III and Annex VIII Each Party shall implement appropriate legislative or administrative measures to ensure timely decisions with respect to the import of chemicals listed in Annex III and Annex VIII . Each Party shall transmit to the Secretariat, as soon as possible, and in any event no later than nine months after the date of dispatch of the decision guidance document referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 7, a response concerning the future import of the chemical concerned. If a Party modifies this response, it shall forthwith submit the revised response to the Secretariat. The Secretariat shall, at the expiration of the time period in paragraph 2, forthwith address to a Party that has not provided such a response, a written request to do so. Should the Party be unable to provide a response, the Secretariat shall, where appropriate, help it to provide a response within the time period specified in the last sentence of paragraph 2 of Article 11. A response under paragraph 2 shall consist of either: (a) A final decision, pursuant to legislative or administrative measures: (i) To consent to import; (ii) Not to consent to import; or (iii) To consent to import only subject to specified conditions; or (b) An interim response, which may include: (i) An interim decision consenting to import with or without specified conditions, or not consenting to import during the interim period; (ii) A statement that a final decision is under active consideration; (iii) A request to the Secretariat, or to the Party that notified the final regulatory action, for further information; (iv) A request to the Secretariat for assistance in evaluating the chemical. A response under subparagraphs (a) or (b) of paragraph 4 shall relate to the category or categories specified for the chemical in Annex III and Annex VIII . A final decision should be accompanied by a description of any legislative or administrative measures upon which it is based. Each Party shall, no later than the date of entry into force of this Convention for it, transmit to the Secretariat responses with respect to each chemical listed in Annex III and Annex VII I . A Party that has provided such responses under the Amended London Guidelines or the International Code of Conduct need not resubmit those responses. Each Party shall make its responses under this Article available to those concerned within its jurisdiction, in accordance with its legislative or administrative measures. A Party that, pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 4 above and paragraph 2 of Article 11, takes a decision not to consent to import of a chemical or to consent to its import only under specified conditions shall, if it has not already done so, simultaneously prohibit or make subject to the same conditions: (a) Import of the chemical from any source; and (b) Domestic production of the chemical for domestic use. Every six months the Secretariat shall inform all Parties of the responses it has received. Such information shall include a description of the legislative or administrative measures on which the decisions have been based, where available. The Secretariat shall, in addition, inform the Parties of any cases of failure to transmit a response. ARTICLE 11 Obligations in relation to exports of chemicals listed in Annex III and Annex VIII Each exporting Party shall: (a) Implement appropriate legislative or administrative measures to communicate the responses forwarded by the Secretariat in accordance with paragraph 10 of Article 10 to those concerned within its jurisdiction; (b) Take appropriate legislative or administrative measures to ensure that exporters within its jurisdiction comply with decisions in each response no later than six months after the date on which the Secretariat first informs the Parties of such response in accordance with paragraph 10 of Article 10; (c) Advise and assist importing Parties, upon request and as appropriate: (i) To obtain further information to help them to take action in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 10 and paragraph 2 (c) below; and (ii) To strengthen their capacities and capabilities to manage chemicals safely during their life-cycle. Each Party shall ensure that a chemical listed in Annex III is not exported from its territory to any importing Party that, in exceptional circumstances, has failed to transmit a response or has transmitted an interim response that does not contain an interim decision, unless: (a) It is a chemical that, at the time of import, is registered as a chemical in the importing Party; or (b) It is a chemical for which evidence exists that it has previously been used in, or imported into, the importing Party and in relation to which no regulatory action to prohibit its use has been taken; or (c) Explicit consent to the import has been sought and received by the exporter through a designated national authority of the importing Party. The importing Party shall respond to such a request within sixty days and shall promptly notify the Secretariat of its decision. The obligations of exporting Parties under this paragraph shall apply with effect from the expiration of a period of six months from the date on which the Secretariat first informs the Parties, in accordance with paragraph 10 of Article 10, that a Party has failed to transmit a response or has transmitted an interim response that does not contain an interim decision, and shall apply for one year. Until such time that it is listed in Annex III , each Party shall ensure that a chemical listed in Annex VIII is not exported from its territory to any importing Party that, in exceptional circumstances, has failed to transmit a response or has transmitted an interim response that does not contain an interim decision. A RTICLE 22 Adoption and amendment of annexes 1. Annexes to this Convention shall form an integral part thereof and, unless expressly provided otherwise, a reference to this Convention constitutes at the same time a reference to any annexes thereto. 2. Annexes shall be restricted to procedural, scientific, technical or administrative matters. 3. The following procedure shall apply to the proposal, adoption and entry into force of additional annexes to this Convention: (a) Additional annexes shall be proposed and adopted according to the procedure laid down in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 21; (b) Any Party that is unable to accept an additional annex shall so notify the Depositary, in writing, within one year from the date of communication of the adoption of the additional annex by the Depositary. The Depositary shall without delay notify all Parties of any such notification received. A Party may at any time withdraw a previous notification of non-acceptance in respect of an additional annex and the annex shall thereupon enter into force for that Party subject to subparagraph (c) below; and (c) On the expiry of one year from the date of the communication by the Depositary of the adoption of an additional annex, the annex shall enter into force for all Parties that have not submitted a notification in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph (b) above. 4. Except in the case of Annex III and Annex VIII , the proposal, adoption and entry into force of amendments to annexes to this Convention shall be subject to the same procedures as for the proposal, adoption and entry into force of additional annexes to the Convention. 5. The following proced ure shall apply to the proposal, adoption and entry into force of amendments to Annex III and and Annex VIII : (a) Amendments to Annex III shall be proposed and adopted according to the procedure laid down in Articles 5 to 9 and paragraph 2 of Article 21; (b) The Conference of the Parties shall take its decisions on adoption of amendments to Annex III by consensus; (b) bis If all efforts to take a decision on adoption of an amendment to Annex III by consensus ha ve been exhausted, the Conference of the Parties may alternatively decide to adopt that proposed amendment as an amendment to Annex VIII pursuant to the procedure set out in paragraph 3 of Article 21, and approve the decision guidance document ; (c) A decision to amend Annex III or Annex VIII shall forthwith be communicated to the Parties by the Depositary. The amendment shall enter into force for all Parties on a date to be specified in the decision. 6. If an additional annex or an amendment to an annex is related to an amendment to this Convention, the additional annex or amendment shall not enter into force until such time as the amendment to the Convention enters into force. Annex VIII – Chemicals Subject to Explicit Consent Chemical Relevant CAS number(s) Category Annex II E x p la n a t o r y no t e by the proponents on the proposal to amend the Rotterdam Convention The Rotterdam Convention is an important part of the international framework for achieving the sound management of chemicals and waste. It establishes an international platform and procedure by which countries share and exchange information about certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade. It was established as a mechanism by which the countries would first agree on the chemicals about which they need to share information, based on the hazard characteristics of such chemicals and then the process by which such information would be exchanged. Chemicals listed in Annex III to the Convention may only be traded internationally between Parties in accordance with the “Prior Informed Consent” procedure established by the Convention. The objective of this Convention is to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals to protect human health and the environment from potential harm and to contribute to their environmentally sound use, by facilitating information exchange about their characteristics, by providing for a national decision- making process on their import and export and by disseminating these decisions to Parties. In recent years, there have been several cases where the Conference of the Parties (COP) has failed to list chemicals in Annex III to the Convention, despite the Chemical Review Committee (CRC) determining that the chemicals meet the listing criteria, the confirmation by the COP of this assessment, and the majority of Parties supporting listing. This situation undermines global efforts to achieve the sound management of chemicals and waste, and calls into question the effectiveness of the Convention. Many Parties have expressed concern in successive meetings of the COP about the inability of the COP to list chemicals in Annex III that both the CRC and the COP have found to meet the criteria for listing. There have been previous proposals for amending the Convention to address this issue. Previous COPs have also examined proposals to increase the effectiveness of the Convention, and several helpful improvements are being implemented. However, the problem remains that Parties are prevented from being able to use the prior informed consent mechanism under the Convention to control a number of chemicals which are widely regarded as hazardous. The proposed amendments to the Convention set out in the annex to this note address this. In summary, they would: Establish a new annex, additional to Annex III, listing chemicals that have been found by the CRC to meet the criteria for listing in Annex III, but for which the COP has not been able to agree to list in Annex III (see proposed amendment to add a new Annex VIII ); Provide a legal basis for the COP (more specifically the Parties to the amended Convention) to decide to list a chemical in the new Annex VIII by a three quarters majority vote if all efforts to reach consensus on inclusion of the chemical in Annex VIII have been exhausted; (see proposed amendments to Article 22 ); Provide a legal basis for the COP to approve the decision guidance document (DGD) of a chemical listed in Annex VIII and require the Secretariat to make it available (see proposed amendments to Article 7 ) ; Establish rights and obligations for the Parties to the amended Convention in relation to the chemicals listed in Annex VIII. For instance, the prior informed consent procedure would apply to the chemicals listed in the new Annex, with the modification that an explicit consent is required (see proposed amendments to Articles 10 and 11). The Annex to this note sets out for convenience the text of the relevant articles and the new Annex as they would appear if the amendment were adopted and entered into force. The amendments are highlighted in green. The procedure introduced by the amendments would operate in the following way: For any chemical already listed in Annex III, or for any chemical proposed by the CRC and agreed to be listed in Annex III by the COP in future, there is no change. All procedures, e.g. for Prior Informed Consent, operate as they do now. The amendments do not affect the operations of the CRC, nor its review and recommendations to the COP in accordance with Articles 5 – 7 of the Convention. If the CRC has recommended the listing of a chemical in Annex III but the COP cannot reach consensus on the listing, Parties to the amended Convention can decide to list the substance in Annex VIII and approve the DGD. Annex III lists chemicals for which there are obligations for ALL Parties . Annex VIII lists chemicals for which there are rights and obligations ONLY for Parties to the amended Convention . The proposed Prior Informed Consent procedure for a chemical listed in Annex VIII would require an importing Party to provide its explicit consent to import that chemical, in particular the exception provided in paragraph 2 of Article 11 would not apply. Listing a chemical in Annex VIII does not preclude a future decision by the COP to list that chemical in Annex III. October 2022