Prior Informed Consent

The FAO secretariat operating the PIC procedure has circulated the latest government decisions either to allow or prohibit the import of pesticides in PIC. This will now be updated for circulation each June and December, although eventually decisions will be available on a data base.  
    The European Union made PIC legally binding under Regulation 2422/92, but has been extremely slow in making the necessary amendments to Annex II, to include the names of PIC active ingredients. Although 12 pesticides are now in the PIC procedure, the Commission is still only discussing adding the first six to Annex II. MEPs dissatisfied with the EUs export policies delayed inclusion even further, in order to ensure that the Commission held a conference re-examining the export agenda for the year 2000. The Commission has agreed to MEPs request for a conference, which should take place in 1995. As companies have undertaken to observe PIC decisions voluntarily, it is hoped they are doing so.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 24, June 1994, page 21]