The workshop was organized and funded by the Secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention, and given the attendance of DNA-pesticide representatives from each country party to the Rotterdam Convention, key elements of the RC obligations were stressed. In particular, countries were reminded about article 5 on the Notification procedure of final regulatory actions and the importance to support notifications with sound scientific hazard/risk evaluations. A presentation was also made on article 6 regarding proposals of Severely Hazardous Pesticide Formulations (SHPF) and the activities carried out and results achieved between 2013 and 2017 in five Central American countries.
The FAO pesticide registration toolkit trainings provided presentations and hands-on exercises. Each of the modules of the Toolkit was presented by a facilitator, after which targeted exercises were conducted with all participants to review and practice the modules’ contents. The results of each exercise was presented by a participant.
After review of all the modules, two case studies were conducted: the first one was an example of registration by analogy; the second case study was a more comprehensive review of the health aspects of a pesticide, comparing a hazard assessment with a bridging approach and an operator exposure model. Presentations, exercises and case studies also included reference and practice of HHPs identification.