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Backgrounder: The Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent

The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade was agreed upon in September 1998. The Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure contained in the Rotterdam Convention promotes the safe use of chemicals at the national level, particularly in developing countries, and limits the trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides.

To join the Convention, the Government of Canada had to develop and approve regulations that set out the process through which Canadian chemical manufacturers can follow the PIC procedure. The regulations formalize a process that most Canadian companies had already been voluntarily following. The regulations will come into effect on December 1, 2002. Environment Canada and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) in Health Canada are responsible for implementing the Rotterdam Convention in Canada.

The Rotterdam Convention will come into effect 90 days after 50 countries become a Party to it. Canada joins 25 other countries that have also become Parties to the Convention, including Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. Seventy-three countries signed the original document and are therefore potential parties to the Convention.

The primary objective of the PIC Regulations, which were published in the Canada Gazette Part II August 28, 2002, is to ensure that hazardous chemicals are not exported unless the country of import has provided its "prior informed consent" regarding receipt of shipments of the chemical. The Regulations will also ensure that importing countries are notified by the federal government when products that are banned or severely restricted for domestic use in Canada are proposed for export, and that adequate safety information accompanies shipments of these products.

By sharing information about hazardous industrial chemicals and pesticides in international trade, PIC helps importing countries to more fully understand and manage the risks associated with their use. Canada is more readily able to manage and to refuse exports of hazardous industrial chemicals and pesticides if it knows that the receiving country has said no to certain shipments.

The chemicals and pesticides that are currently subject to these Regulations are listed in the Export Control List, in Schedule 3 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA 1999). Anyone who plans to export a substance on the Export Control List will have to apply to either the Minister of the Environment or the Minister of Health for a permit to do so.

The Export Control List consists of three parts. Part 1 of the list includes substances whose use is prohibited in Canada. These substances may only be exported under very limited circumstances, such as for destruction. Part 2 of the List includes the PIC substances and others for which notification and consent for export are required by an international agreement. An example is DDT. Part 3 of the List includes substances the use of which is restricted by regulations in Canada such as ozone-depleting substances.

It was also necessary for the federal government to pass an Order to add to Part 2 of Schedule 3 of CEPA 1999, four substances that have become subject to the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure as pesticides under the Rotterdam Convention: Binapacryl, Toxaphene, Ethylene Oxide and 1,2-dichloroethane (Ethylene Dichloride). The latter, which was already listed under Part 3, will be transferred to Part 2, which includes substances subject to an international agreement.