First binding controls on pesticide trade - the PIC and POPs initiatives

The text of a Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Convention was finalised by governments in March 1998. It heralds the first international legally binding initiative to limit unwanted trade in hazardous pesticides, and will be immediately followed up in June by the opening of negotiations to eliminate persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from the environment. Nine of the identified twelve POPs are pesticides.

The PIC Convention takes a significant step towards protecting farmers, communities and the environment, particularly in developing countries, from the dangers resulting from trade in hazardous pesticides. With pressure on global agriculture to increase production, developing countries frequently provide a market for older, cheaper and more hazardous pesticides. 
    PIC is a process which identifies government decisions to ban or severely restrict pesticides, and then obtains and disseminates the decisions of importing countries as to whether they wish to receive future shipments of these chemicals. While promoting shared responsibility between importers and exporters, the exporting countries must ensure their industries comply with importing country decisions.
    The Convention will be opened for signature at a Diplomatic Conference in Rotterdam in September 1998, and will come into force after 50 governments have approved it-the first test of the political will to ensure implementation. Subject to agreement by the Conference of the Parties (COP), the secretariat will be operated jointly by the UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN.  A Chemical Review Committee will oversee its functions between meetings of the COP.

Key features 
To avoid a break in implementation, the voluntary PIC will continue, using the new procedures agreed by the Convention, and it will initially include the 22 pesticides (see box) and five industrial chemicals already covered.

Pesticides will be included in the PIC Convention if they:

• have been banned or severely restricted on the basis of a science-based risk/hazard evaluation in two regions;

• are 'severely hazardous pesticide formulations' which cause health or environmental problems under conditions of use in developing countries. These may be included following a verified incident  in a developing country or country with an economy in transition; 

Information exchange is an important feature of the Convention and the Secretariat shall communicate to all parties every six months a synopsis of regulatory action of which it has been notified, thus alerting others to significant decisions. Furthermore, governments which ban or severely restrict a chemical will provide an importing country with an export notification of the first export in each year.
    Many developing countries were disappointed by the ban or severe restriction to be taken in two different regions, but some industrial countries were adamant that they wanted evidence of a 'global problem'.  "We will watch this closely to see if it causes unnecessary delays in including pesticides" said Grace Ohayo-Mitoko of Health and Environment Watch, Kenya.
    Fatoumata Ndoye, who is responsible for implementing PIC in Gambia, spoke for many developing countries in welcoming the inclusion of severely hazardous pesticide formulations. Nevertheless, countries may find it difficult to provide the required incident descriptions.  Even countries with poisons information centres cannot easily identify this precise information. Almost no African country has a poisons information centre. On a further concern of developing countries, Ms Ndoye added:  "we must now make sure that there is financial support to help us implement PIC and look for safer alternatives to banned and restricted pesticides, and hazardous formulations."

POPs move ahead
The first meeting of the POPs negotiations will be watched with interest. At present all nine POPs pesticides (aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachloro-benzene, mirex and toxaphene) are included in PIC. But while PIC deals with information exchange and preventing unwanted imports, POPs may see a move towards phasing out the production and use of pesticides which accumulate and persist in the environment. 

These two Conventions together will provide a significant basis for removing hazardous chemicals from trade.  For the future, monitoring and implementation of the Conventions will present a crucial challenge, particularly given the lack of transparency in international chemical trade. (BD)  

Draft Convention on the PIC Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, UNEP/FAO/PIC/INC.5/3, 17 March 1998.  UNEP website for PIC and POPs information http://irptc.unep.ch/;  FAO website for PIC information http://www.fao.org/waicent/faoInfo/agricult/agp/agpp/pesticid/default.htm

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 40, June 1998, page 5]