International Treaties

	Australia ratified two international conventions on 20 May 2004: the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). NICNAS undertook implementation activity to ensure Australia met its obligations under both treaties in 2004-05.
	Rotterdam Convention
	The Rotterdam Convention's objective is to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous pesticides and industrial chemicals in order to protect human health and the environment from potential harm and to contribute to their environmentally sound use, by facilitating information exchange about their characteristics. The obligations of the Convention entered into force for Australia on 18 August 2004, and as a Party to the Convention, Australia has to take administrative or legislative measures to implement its obligations. In order to implement the obligations of the Convention for the eleven industrial chemicals listed in Annex III of the Convention, Regulation 11C of the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Regulations was introduced effective from 5 August 2004. Regulation 11C controls the import and export of PIC listed industrial chemicals. Two additional industrial chemicals, tetra ethyl and tetra methyl lead, were added to the Convention this year, effective 1 February 2005. Measures were taken by NICNAS to ensure that the chemicals are not exported by Australian industry to countries that do not wish to receive them. Australia also has to provide an importing country response for these two chemicals. Australia had notified chrysotile to the Convention in January 2004 using the NICNAS Priority Existing Chemical Assessment for chrysotile (1999) as the documented risk assessment. At its first meeting in February 2005, the PIC Chemical Review Committee considered the Australian notification of chrysotile. The notification was accepted as meeting the criteria set out under the Convention. Processes will continue under the Convention to list chrysotile in 2006. Monitoring Rotterdam Convention compliance During the year NICNAS put in place administrative and legislative measures to ensure that Australia meets its obligation under the Convention including amendments to the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Regulations 1990. The amendments ensured controls for the importation of hexabromobiphenyl and the export of PIC listed industrial chemicals: hexabromobiphenyl, octabromobiphenyl, decabromobiphenyl, polychlorinated biphenyl and polychlorinated terphenyl. Octabromobiphenyl, decabromobiphenyl and tris (2,3- dibromopropyl) phosphate had been declared as priority existing chemicals on 6 July 2004.
	Industry web guidance and export forms for issuing export authorisation were developed and published on the NICNAS website. No export applications were submitted to NICNAS during 2004-05. The border control system has proven to be effective as NICNAS received 45 export advices from the Australian Customs Service during the year which were checked and cleared as the goods were not related to the PIC listed chemicals. Five PIC chemicals are included in the current monitoring regime. Required preliminary research and analysis work based on export and import data for those new PIC chemicals under relevant Australian Harmonised Export Commodity Classification (AHECC) codes was conducted. Communication and stakeholder engagement Using import and export data extracted for Customs classifications relevant to industrial chemicals listed in Annex III of the Convention, about 160 advisory letters were sent by NICNAS to importers and exporters informing them of their obligations under the Convention. As part of the current arrangement under the MOU with the states and territories, letters and information papers were sent by the Director, NICNAS to heads of departments advising them of the administrative and legislative arrangements NICNAS has put in place. Top of Page
	Stockholm Convention
	The Stockholm Convention's objective is to protect human health and the environment from the effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The Convention sets out a range of control measures to reduce and, where feasible, eliminate POPs releases, including emissions of by-product POPs. The Convention also aims to ensure sound management of stockpiles and waste that contains POPs. The Convention focuses on three broad areas: intentionally produced and used POPs, unintentionally produced or by-product POPs and POPs in stockpiles and waste.
	The Convention covers control measures on 12 POPs identified for international action because of their persistence, bioaccumulation, longrange dispersion and toxicity. As a Party to the Convention, Australia has to ensure that when conducting assessment of new and existing industrial chemicals, criteria listed in the Convention are taken into consideration. Chemical companies may have to provide additional data to NICNAS to enable screening of industrial chemicals new to Australia with POPs characteristics. Monitoring Stockholm Convention compliance NICNAS has put additional screening measures in the assessment activity to identify potential POPs chemicals. Additional data in accordance with the Information Requirements and Screening Criteria of Annex D of the Convention may be requested, in particular, information relating to persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity ie half-life of the chemical in both water and in soil, or other evidence of its persistence. Given that a POP must satisfy all three of these criteria it is envisaged that a tiered screening approach would be implemented, whereby only if a chemical meets one POPs criterion would information have to be provided to screen for other criteria. Guidance to industry on how to comply with the data requirements on persistent chemicals is available on the NICNAS website. Top of Page