COP5 DAY ONE

Jim Willis, Joint Executive Secretary of the Basel, Stockholm, and Rotterdam Conventions, highlighted the successes of the Rotterdam Convention, including listing 40 chemicals and establishing the Chemical Review Committee (CRC) as a strong, science-based subsidiary body. Willis noted that current challenges include achieving progress on compliance, deciding how to deal with chemicals recommended by CRC but not listed in the Convention. Recommendations of CRC with regard to chrysotile asbestos is pending since 2004. He was speaking at the fifth Conference of the Parties (COP5) to the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) opened in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 June 2011. South Africa called for expedited discussion on establishing mechanisms to list any CRC-recommended chemicals on which the COP is unable to reach consensus, including a possible new, voluntary annex to the Convention.

India noted the importance of achieving Convention objectives within the framework of sustainable development, called for development of alternatives to listed chemicals, and emphasized the importance of consensus-based decision-making.

China called for consensus-based decision-making and a gradual approach to adding chemicals to Annex III.

The Secretariat introduced the issue (UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/3) and proposed deleting brackets around a clause stating that, when attempts at consensus are exhausted, a two-thirds majority vote can be used to reach a decision. A number of
developing countries opposed this, and delegates agreed to revisit this issue at COP6.