Mandate

Article 19, paragraph 2 (b), of the Rotterdam Convention provides that the Secretariat shall facilitate assistance to parties, particularly developing countries and countries with economies in transition, on request, in the implementation of the Convention.

As set out in Article 16 of the Rotterdam Convention, Parties shall, taking into account in particular the needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition, cooperate in promoting technical assistance for the development of the infrastructure and the capacity necessary to manage chemicals to enable implementation of this Convention. Parties with more advanced programmes for regulating chemicals should provide technical assistance, including training, to other Parties in developing their infrastructure and capacity to manage chemicals throughout their life cycle.

The overall goal of the technical assistance is to strengthen the capacities of Parties, particularly developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition, to implement the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions. The technical assistance plan for the implementation of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions is available here. The Programme of Work and budget for the Rotterdam Convention is available here.