Curtain Raiser: 

The eighth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for an International Legally Binding Instrument for the Application of the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (INC-8) opens today at the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, Italy, and will meet until 12 October 2001. The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade was adopted at a Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on 10 September 1998. To date, the Convention has been signed by 72 States and the European Commission, and ratified by 16 States. It will enter into force once 50 instruments of ratification are deposited. Until the Convention's first Conference of the Parties (COP), the INC will continue to provide guidance regarding the implementation of the PIC procedure during the interim period. The PIC procedure aims to promote shared responsibility between exporting and importing countries in protecting human health and the environment from the harmful effects of certain hazardous chemicals being traded internationally. Delegates to INC-8 will consider, inter alia: activities of the Secretariat; the work of the Interim Chemical Review Committee (ICRC); implementation of the interim PIC procedure; preparation for the COP; and issues arising out of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries.

ENB Summary of PIC-7
ENB Daily website coverage, photos, Real Audio files and daily reports from PIC-7
Report of the second session of the Interim Chemical Review Committee
PIC (Rotterdam Convention) web site with Meetings and documents
ENB's Introduction to Chemical Management
Joint UNEP Chemicals/WHO GEENET Project