Frequently Asked Questions about the Rotterdam Convention

Q. What is the PIC procedure and how does it work?

A. The movements of hazardous chemicals listed in Annex III are subject to the Prior Informed Consent procedure (“PIC procedure”). Exports are only allowed if the State of import has consented to the future import of the specific chemical through an Import Response.

An import response consists of either:

1. (i) A final decision:
   • To consent to import;
   • Not to consent to import; or
   • To consent only subject to specified conditions; or
2. (ii) An Interim response, which may include:
   • An interim decision to consent to import with or without conditions, or not consenting to import;
   • A statement that a final decision is under active consideration;
   • A request for further information;
   • A request to the Secretariat for assistance in evaluating the chemical. 

If the Party has, in its Import Response, consented to import subject to specified conditions, these conditions must also be complied with (Article 10 and article 11).

The PIC procedure, along with information exchange, is one of the key provisions of the Rotterdam Convention. It consists of a mechanism for formally obtaining and disseminating the decisions of importing Parties as to whether they wish to receive future shipments of those chemicals listed in Annex III of the Convention and for ensuring compliance with these decisions by exporting Parties. The PIC procedure only applies to the export and import of chemicals listed in Annex III. The Convention stipulates 2 key stages: (1) Import Responses and; (2) Follow up Parties’ responsibilities.

Further information on the PIC procedure is available in the Leaflet on International Trade Control measures.

Q. What are the main elements used for information exchange under the Convention?

A. Listing chemicals in Annex III is important to stimulate the exchange of information on hazardous chemicals among Parties. Sharing information with a view to protecting human health and the environment is a cornerstone of the Rotterdam Convention, of which there are 4 main elements: 

• Final regulatory actions (procedures for banned or severely restricted chemicals);
• Severely hazardous pesticide formulations;
• Import responses in relation to chemicals listed in Annex III;
• Export notifications for chemicals not listed in Annex III.

The procedures under the Convention that lead to the listing of a chemical all begin and culminate with decisions taken by individual Parties. More information on this procedure is available here.

You can also watch a video explaining the PIC procedure.

Q. What is a final regulatory action (FRA)?

The Convention defines “Final regulatory action” (FRA) to mean an action taken by a Party that does not need subsequent regulatory action, the purpose of which is to ban or severely restrict a chemical. A ban means all uses of the chemical within one or more of the categories (pesticide, including severely hazardous pesticide formulations, and industrial) have been prohibited. A severe restriction means virtually all use of the chemical within one or more of the categories has been prohibited. The Party decides, on a case by case basis, whether the action it has taken amounts to a chemical being severely restricted in line with the Convention.

Q. What should our country be notifying to the Secretariat to fulfil its obligations?

The procedures under the Convention require that FRAs need to have been taken to protect human health or the environment as one of the criteria for listing the chemical in Annex III to the Convention after receipt of FRAs (See below and Article 5).

Once a final regulatory action to ban or severely restrict a chemical has been adopted, the Party is obliged to notify the Secretariat. The notification should be made as soon as possible and no later than 90 days after the regulatory action has taken effect. The obligation to notify the final regulatory action is independent of whether the chemical is still being traded internationally or not.

Below are some examples of what Parties have defined as:

Banned chemicals

• Ban of a chemical following concerns for workers’ health, leading to a decision that the chemical could not be used in a way to guarantee workers’ safety due to information on hazards involved and on exposure;
• Ban of the use of a pesticide because it was seen that this might cause problems with export trade in agricultural commodities due to residues for which trading partners either had very low or no Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs).

Parties did not consider it necessary to notify as an FRA if an original chemical formulation and application technique had been removed from the market but industry had taken action to reformulate the product and change the application methodology to address concerns about possible health (or environmental) impacts. The Party may however wish to advise other Parties of such changes as part of the Convention’s information exchange provisions.

Severely restricted chemicals

• A ban of all major uses of a chemical, even if only 1 or 2 minor uses remain approved, could be notified as a severe restriction. The difficulty for some Parties may be the lack of quantitative data on the level of usage of chemicals for them to determine what is a major or minor use;
• The imposition of standards such as stringent environmental exposure limits, maximum residue limits (MRLs) or occupational exposure limits such as Threshold Limit Values (TLVs), do not by themselves modify the uses of the chemical and were not considered to constitute severe restrictions;
• Regulatory controls requiring the use of protective clothing or safety equipment to minimize exposure also do not limit the uses and again would not be considered as severe restrictions;
• Restriction of the use of a pesticide or an industrial chemical to certain qualified users/operators to limit the number of persons who can use the chemical but with all approved uses for the chemical remaining unchanged has not been considered a severe restriction.

In the past, data deficiencies (e.g. phase out of chemicals if an evaluation concludes there is not enough information to support the continued use of a chemical) have not been notified by Parties as they did not consider them to constitute FRAs. Actions based upon failure to pay fees (e.g. Ban resulting from unpaid registration fees), not taken for health or environmental reasons, could be unlikely to meet the criteria in Annexes I and II and therefore not be eligible for consideration for inclusion of the chemical concerned in Annex III to the Convention.

It is important to remember that the list of chemicals and pesticides that are subject to the legally binding PIC procedure are not a “Black list” but rather a “watch list” based on decisions taken by individual Parties to ban or severely restrict a chemical.

Further information, guidance and examples are available in the FRA Evaluation Toolkit, which is available at https://www.pic.int/Implementation/FinalRegulatoryActions/FRAEvaluationToolkit/Introduction/tabid/4976/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Q. When should our country send a notification of FRA or notify of changes to a previous FRA notification?

A. It is important to notify so that all stakeholders can be informed of the measures and decisions that your country has taken. This is turn improves compliance with those national measures and decisions. Please note that any Party has the right to change its previous notifications of FRAs, as well as any previous decisions on the import of Annex III chemicals. Any such changes should be immediately transmitted to the Secretariat so that they can be communicated as soon as possible on the Convention website as well as in the next PIC Circular.

Q. What would be the consequences of not transmitting a notification of FRA?

• For chemicals already listed in Annex III, changes to previous notifications could lead to changes in import responses;
• For chemicals not listed in Annex III, if there is no longer a ban or severe restriction in place it could mean the chemical is no longer a candidate chemical for listing. Failure to notify may mean the chemical is not included in Annex III when it may otherwise have been listed and the country may not be able to rely on an international mechanism to strengthen and enforce a national decision not to accept imports of a hazardous chemical;
• For chemicals not listed in Annex III, if the chemical is no longer banned or severely restricted, it may mean that your country no longer has obligations to transmit export notifications when exporting the chemical from your territory.

Information exchange through the notifications under the Convention also ensures that a country does not receive imports of chemicals that it either does not want to receive or cannot manage, leading to a threat to human health and the environment. 

Q. Should we notify the Secretariat of the incidents related to pesticides poisoning?

A.            Notification of final regulatory action should only be made when the Party has adopted a regulatory final action. As for the listing of chemicals into Annex III, the Convention contains criteria which should also be considered in the evaluation process. One of these criteria specifies that intentional misuse is not an adequate basis on which to list a chemical in Annex III.  The relevant criteria for listing a chemical in Annex III are contained in Annexes I and II of the Convention.

However, Parties may wish to report on pesticide incidents that are not intentional misuse. Reporting on pesticide incidents to the Rotterdam Convention has the advantage of making those incidents known to the world through the PIC Circular. This can help other countries be informed about specific pesticide formulations causing problems in other countries, allowing them to see if risk management measures are needed. This can help prevent further incidences of poisoning. More information on the procedures for reporting pesticide incidents is available here.

Q. Our country has never produced, used or regulated a chemical included in Annex III to the Convention – do we need to do our anything in this case?

A. Yes. There are still other actions that need to be taken, one of the most important being the obligation to provide a response concerning the future import for each chemical listed in Annex III (Import Responses, Article 10). A response could consist of either:

• a final decision (consent/not consent/consent only subject to specified conditions to import) or
• an interim response (interim decision consenting with or without conditions or not consenting during an interim period/final decision under active consideration/request further information/request assistance in evaluating the chemical).

As an example, in many countries, there are general provisions that do not allow the use or import of any chemical that is not registered or approved. This could be one option as a basis for an import response for unregistered/unapproved chemicals in Annex III.

Q. When our country becomes a Party to the Convention can we be assured that no chemicals listed in Annex III of the Convention will ever be exported to our country?

A. No. Becoming a Party to the Convention does not in itself obligate other Parties to ensure that there are no exports of the chemicals listed in Annex III to your country. You need to provide the Secretariat with an Import Response for each of the chemicals listed in Annex III to the Rotterdam Convention stating that your country does not consent to import. Once you transmit this Import Response, other Parties do have an obligation to take measures to ensure exporters within their jurisdiction comply with decisions.

The Convention provides for the control – not the ban – of the international trade in the chemicals covered, based on decisions taken by individual Parties. It is important to remember that the Convention procedures begin and culminate with decisions taken by individual Parties.

Q. Can we expect that there will be no imports of a chemical listed in Annex III to the Convention if we indicate "no consent" in our Import Response for that chemical?

A. Parties to the Convention are bound to comply with their obligations, including to take appropriate measures to ensure that exporters within their jurisdictions comply with import responses (Article 11). It is important to remember however that non-Parties are not bound by the Convention and may still export chemicals to your country, although the Convention has global coverage and there are few States that are not Party. It is nonetheless essential to ensure your country has put in place a strong and effective legal and institutional framework, including enforcement mechanisms.

Q. What are export notifications and does our country need to do anything about them?

A. When a chemical not listed in Annex III but banned or severely restricted by a Party is exported from its territory, that Party must notify each individual importing Party before the first shipment and annually thereafter (Article 12). The information requirements for export notifications are contained in Annex V to the Convention.

The obligation for export notification ceases when the chemical is included in Annex III, the importing party has provided an import response on this chemical to the Secretariat, and the response has been published in the PIC Circular.

More information about the procedure for transmitting export notifications, including a form and accompanying instructions to facilitate these notifications, is available here.

Q. How do we control export of a chemical when our national chemicals management legislation provides for a ban or restriction of the chemical but does not address its export?

A. A major obligation of Parties to the Rotterdam Convention is sharing responsibility in the international trade of chemicals. The Convention requires information to accompany exported chemicals.

Assistance is available to Parties through the guidance and tools available on the Convention website, such as the:

• Resource Kit,
• E-learning tool,
• National legislation collection,
• FRA Evaluation Toolkit. 

An exporting country may wish to consult these tools to support its efforts to establish effective control of chemical exports, for example to update its regulatory framework, take appropriate decisions and communicate these to other Parties through the Secretariat.

A Party will also need to undertake awareness-raising activities to make stakeholders aware of the need to comply with import responses, as well as national measures to implement the Convention. These should also facilitate trade control as set out in the Convention, including to compile information on the status of implementation at the national level and levels of trade e.g. customs.

Q. How do we know whether a chemical used as both a pesticide and an industrial chemical is being exported for use in a particular category in the importing country?

A. The chemicals in the PIC procedure are clearly divided into two groups: industrial chemicals and pesticides (including severely hazardous pesticide formulations) for the purpose of the Convention. Parties provide import responses for each chemical and the responses are published in the PIC Circular, as well as on the Convention website.

The Rotterdam Convention doesn’t provide a specific definition for the term “pesticide”. Currently, definitions of “pesticide” may vary from country to country. For example, Party A follows the broader pesticide definition of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management, while Party B considers pesticide as substances of chemical or biological ingredients used in plant protection only. Consequently, an import response from Party A may apply to a broader use scope than one from Party B for the same chemical. It is helpful that Parties to the Rotterdam Convention provide information on their definition of pesticides in their import response. In addition, Parties are encouraged to inform the Secretariat about the definition of pesticides applied and the Secretariat will make that information available to all Parties. Alternatively, you may wish to check with the exporter, consider the information on the label of the container or contact the DNA of the importing country or the actual importer for detailed information on the particular use

The Secretariat has published a leaflet addresses the role of the use category in the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention and challenges that Parties may experience in this regard.

Q. What should we do when we receive an export notification for a chemical?

A. You are required to acknowledge receipt of the first export notification received after your country has adopted a final regulatory action. This is usually done by sending a return message to the designated national authority (DNA) of the exporting Party with a response on whether your country consents to the import of the chemical or not.

Q. What should the DNA of an importing Party do when, after receiving an export notification, it finds that the importer does not have the proper licences, permits and/or authorization?

A. The importing Party still required to acknowledge receipt of the export notification, however, your response should indicate that, the importer does not have authorization to import the chemical.

Q. Do we need to do anything more than provide import responses if our country does not manufacture any chemicals?

A. Yes. There are other obligations such as relating to final regulatory actions and export notifications. Each Party is required to transmit notifications of final regulatory action whenever it has made a decision regarding to ban or severely restrict any chemical and to provide a response to an exporting country that seeks to export a chemical that is not listed in the PIC procedure but is banned or severely restricted in the country of export.

Q. The Convention does not apply to chemicals imported for the purpose of research and analysis. What is the maximum quantity of a chemical that can be imported for such purposes?

A. The Convention does not specify an amount that is considered for the purpose of research or analysis. Some Parties in implementing the Convention have set a level of 10 kilograms whereas others have set lower amounts. Whatever amount Parties choose to apply, it is important to recognize that these should be small amounts compared to commercially traded quantities and must not be likely to affect human health and the environment.

Q. What benefits and opportunities could the Rotterdam Convention offer our country?

A. The Convention provides:

• Early warning system: The list of chemicals and pesticides that are subject to the legally binding PIC Procedure. This is not a “Black list” but rather a “watch list” of industrial chemicals, pesticides and severely hazardous pesticide formulations, whose use should be carefully considered and whose import needs to be agreed.
• Shared responsibility: Facilitates international cooperation and information sharing to support policy makers in their assessments of the benefits of chemicals; the risks that they pose to human health and the environment on the basis of scientific data; and of trade in such chemicals.
• Informed decision making: Enables Parties to have access to information and be alerted to potential risks to health and the environment caused by certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides – this enables them to take any regulatory actions at the national level that they feel may be needed.
• That stakeholders have access to information on hazardous chemicals and pesticides. Stakeholders, particularly in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, need to know if what they are using is dangerous and can benefit from being informed of what affordable alternatives may be available. The emphasis on public education under the Convention means that general knowledge of the safe management of chemicals and pesticides should grow over time, thus reducing accidents and illnesses. Parties can also benefit from information about the affordable alternatives that may be available.
• Technical assistance is available to support developing countries and countries with economies in transition in building capacity (human resources, policy, legal and institutional frameworks) necessary to safely manage chemicals. More developed Parties provide advice and training

Q.  What do Designated National Authorities do?

A. Each Party has an obligation to designate one or more national authorities to perform the administrative functions under the Convention – this could include the following:

• Gather Statutory Instruments, Decrees and other national regulatory decisions (such as positive and negative lists of chemicals) for the management of pesticides and industrial chemicals and communicate this information to the Secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention;
• Make regular contact with Customs and other enforcement officials regarding the import and export of chemicals;
• Share information and be part of a mechanism that ensures that the import responses contained in the PIC Circulars, provided by the Secretariat, are communicated to potential exporters and relevant stakeholders;
• Be able to access information on human and environmental poisoning incidents involving pesticides;
• Communicate the Party’s decisions on the future import of chemicals listed in Annex III of the Convention by filling in the relevant forms and notifying the Secretariat;
• Be the contact point for matters related to the Rotterdam Convention with the Secretariat, other DNAs and national stakeholders.

For further information on the role of the Designated National Authority and the procedure for notifications of contacts to the Secretariat, including any modifications or additions, please see here.

The Secretariat maintains a database of country contacts, which can be accessed here.

Q. What do Official Contact Points do?

The Secretariat communicates with an Official Contact Point (OCP) of a Party on official issues such as:

• Notices regarding participation in meetings of the Conference of the Parties;
• Circulation of the reports of these meetings;
• Proposals for the addition of chemicals to Annex III of the Convention;
• Inclusion in the PIC procedure;
• Nomination of experts to subsidiary bodies such as the Chemical Review Committee.

For further information on the role of the Official Contact Point and the procedure for notifications of contacts to the Secretariat, including any modifications or additions, please see here.

• The Secretariat maintains a database of country contacts, which can be accessed here.

Q. Who can communicate any changes to the Secretariat on the contact details of Designated National Authorities or the Official Contact Points?

A. It is the prerogative of the Party concerned to determine which entity is authorized to communicate changes to the contacts or previous designations.

Minor updates to contact details of existing designated contacts (e.g. email address or telephone numbers) can be made directly by the DNA, or other duly authorized entities.

Substantive changes or new designations of contacts need to be transmitted by an entity duly authorized by the Government to communicate such information to the Secretariat, such as the permanent mission to the United Nations or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Further information on this procedure is available here.