Understanding the requirements of Article 6 of the Rotterdam Convention in relation to its implementation.
Article 6 of the Rotterdam Convention introduces a procedure for countries to share information on health incidents caused by pesticides.
The Convention Secretariat is interested in receiving information about health incidents related to any pesticide, regardless of its hazard classification.
By sharing information via the Secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention, other countries can be alerted to potential risks to health caused by pesticides and consideration can be given to regulatory action.
A standard incident report form has been developed by the Secretariat to facilitate the collection of data on pesticide poisonings.
The incident report form consists of three parts.
The introduction is intended to provide relevant background information on the Rotterdam Convention and how the information provided in the form and submitted by the Designated National Authority will be used.
Part A is to be completed by the Designated National Authority once Part B is received from the field. It reflects the information requirements of Part 1 of Annex IV of the Convention and summarizes the information in Part B of the form.
Part B is for the collection of data at field level. The form is designed to provide “a clear description of the incidents related to the problem, including the adverse effects and the way in which the formulation was used” (part 1, paragraph g, of Annex IV of the Convention). It consists of a series of closed questions and checklists that capture the basic information needed with options for including additional information where it is available. Part B of the form can be substituted by a form developed locally. The information that needs to be collected and submitted is outlined in Annex IV, Part 1, of the Convention.
There is some redundancy between Parts A and B of the form particularly with respect to information on product identity. It was thought that this redundancy might help countries to consolidate responses by using Part A of the form to report on more than one incident for the same formulation.
The form can be accessed here.