UNITED
NATIONS
BC
RC
SC
UNEP/CHW.13/23
UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/22
UNEP/POPS/COP.8/26
Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal
Distr.: General
7 December 2016
Original: English
Rotterdam Convention on the Prior
Informed Consent Procedure for
Certain Hazardous Chemicals and
Pesticides in International Trade
Stockholm Convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants
Conference of the Parties to the
Basel Convention on the Control
of Transboundary Movements
of Hazardous Wastes and
Their Disposal
Thirteenth meeting
Geneva, 24 April–5 May 2017
Item 5 of the provisional agenda
Enhancing cooperation and
coordination among the Basel,
Rotterdam and Stockholm
conventions
Conference of the Parties to the
Rotterdam Convention on the Prior
Informed Consent Procedure for
Certain Hazardous Chemicals and
Pesticides in International Trade
Eighth meeting
Geneva, 24 April–5 May 2017
Item 6 of the provisional agenda
Enhancing cooperation and
coordination among the Basel,
Rotterdam and Stockholm
conventions
Conference of the Parties to the
Stockholm Convention on
Persistent Organic Pollutants
Eighth meeting
Geneva, 24 April–5 May 2017
Item 6 of the provisional agenda
Enhancing cooperation and
coordination among the Basel,
Rotterdam and Stockholm
conventions
Clearing-house mechanism for information exchange
Note by the Secretariat
I.
Introduction
1.
In decisions BC-12/21, RC-7/11 and SC-7/29, on the clearing-house mechanism for
information exchange, the conferences of the Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention on
the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International
Trade and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, respectively, took note of the
proposed joint clearing-house mechanism strategy1 and invited Parties and others to provide comments
on the strategy.
* UNEP/CHW.13/1.
** UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/1.
*** UNEP/POPS/COP.8/1.
1 UNEP/CHW.12/INF/50-UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.7/INF/36-UNEP/POPS/COP.7/INF/56.
K1611713
200217
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2.
In the same decisions, the conferences of the Parties also requested the Secretariat to provide
for the biennium 2016–2017, within available resources, access through the clearing-house mechanism
to thematic information in 11 selected priority areas relevant to the conventions and to prepare, for
consideration by the conferences of the Parties at their meetings in 2017, a revised joint clearing-house
mechanism strategy, taking into account, among other things, the comments received from Parties and
the report on the review of the synergies arrangements to be presented to the conferences of the Parties
at their meetings in 2017 (UNEP/CHW.13/INF/43-UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/INF/29UNEP/POPS/COP.8/INF/46).
3.
In their decisions BC-12/25, RC-7/15 and SC-7/33, on the programmes of work and budgets
for the three conventions for the biennium 2016–2017, the conferences of the Parties allocated funding
under the general trust funds to cover the maintenance of existing information systems and the
development of a number of new information tools; they also allocated funding under the voluntary
and technical cooperation trust funds to cover the development of the remaining new information tools
in line with the priority areas identified in the decisions.
II.
Implementation
4.
The Secretariat has made significant progress in the implementation of the joint clearing-house
mechanism activities for the biennium 2016–2017, thanks to generous financial support provided by
the European Union, focusing mainly on providing access to thematic information and information
sources in those priority areas for which funds have been provided, specifically, regulatory and
technical information collected through country notifications, Stockholm Convention national
implementation plans, Rotterdam Convention national action plans and scientific and technical
publications.
5.
More specifically, the Secretariat has developed, or is in the process of developing a joint
chemical profile prototype;2 joint country profiles;3 a joint library of legislation and other measures
adopted by Parties to implement the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam conventions;4 a library of
national implementation plans and national action plans;5 and an enhanced library of scientific and
technical publications.6 Furthermore, the Secretariat has included in its joint clearing-house
mechanism a final regulatory action evaluation toolkit 7 for the Rotterdam Convention. The Secretariat
is implementing funded activities pertaining to the joint clearing-house mechanism, all of which will
be completed by the end of 2017. Fundraising efforts for the remaining priority areas are under way.
6.
In further developing the joint clearing-house mechanism, the Secretariat is collaborating with
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on the development of chemical
profiles and with other multilateral environmental agreement secretariats on sharing information
through the United Nations Information Portal on Multilateral Environmental Agreements
(InforMEA).8 In addition, the Secretariat has explored options for exchanging information through the
regional centres of the Basel and Stockholm conventions, including at the annual joint meeting of the
directors of the regional centres, held in Geneva in October 2015, and at a regional workshop for the
Arab countries on the environmentally sound management of chemicals and hazardous wastes and the
joint clearing-house mechanism to enhance synergies between the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm
conventions, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in December 2015. It is also exploring possible
collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on the exchange of
information on pesticides. Furthermore, the website of the Minamata Convention on Mercury is hosted
within the joint clearing-house mechanism. Information on additional cooperative activities related to
the joint clearing-house mechanism is provided in a note by the Secretariat on international
cooperation and coordination (UNEP/CHW.13/19-UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/20UNEP/POPS/COP.8/24).
7.
These activities and tools have resulted in significant enhancement of the conventions’
websites, databases and overall knowledge management facilities within the joint clearing-house
mechanism, facilitating improved end-user access to information and promoting better understanding
of the scientific, technical and legal aspects of the three conventions. A revised draft strategy for the
2 http://www.brsmeas.org/?tabid=5341.
3 http://www.brsmeas.org/?tabid=4466.
4 http://www.brsmeas.org/?tabid=5342.
5
http://www.brsmeas.org/?tabid=5343.
http://www.brsmeas.org/?tabid=3790.
7 http://www.pic.int/?tabid=4976.
8 http://www.informea.org.
6
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joint clearing-house mechanism has been prepared by the Secretariat based on comments received
from Parties and others,9 on relevant recommendations from the report on the results of the review of
the synergies arrangements (UNEP/CHW.13/INF/43-UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/INF/29UNEP/POPS/COP.8/INF/46) and from the report on the evaluation of the effectiveness of the
Stockholm Convention (UNEP/POPS/COP.8/22/Add.1).10 The revised draft joint clearing-house
mechanism strategy is set out in document UNEP/CHW.13/INF/47-UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/INF/33UNEP/POPS/COP.8/INF/50.
8.
The revised strategy, if endorsed by the conferences of the Parties, will serve as the underlying
framework and guidance for the further development of the joint clearing-house mechanism and will
be used by the Secretariat to develop, every two years, a draft biennial workplan outlining proposed
activities and their associated costs for consideration by the conferences of the Parties.
9.
In line with paragraph 8 above, the Secretariat has developed, for the implementation of the
joint clearing-house mechanism for the biennium 2018–2019, a draft workplan based on the priorities
and needs identified through questionnaires, workshops, the review of the synergies arrangements and
other need assessments, and the revised joint strategy mentioned above. The draft workplan is set out
in document UNEP/CHW.13/INF/48-UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/INF/39-UNEP/POPS/COP.8/INF/43.
III.
Proposed action
10.
Each Conference of the Parties may wish to adopt a decision along the following lines:
The Conference of the Parties,
Noting the needs recognized in decision SC-8/[ ] on effectiveness evaluation as they
relate to Article 9 of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, on
information exchange,11
1.
Takes note of the progress made in the implementation of the joint
clearing-house mechanism;12
2.
Endorses the revised joint clearing-house mechanism strategy13 and invites
Parties and others to participate in its implementation;
3.
Approves the workplan for the implementation of the joint clearing-house
mechanism for the biennium 2018–2019;14
4.
Requests the Secretariat, subject to the availability of resources, to implement
the revised joint clearing-house mechanism strategy and the workplan for the biennium
2018–2019 referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 above;
5.
Also requests the Secretariat to continue to enhance cooperation and
coordination activities with existing partners in the area of information exchange and to
explore possible cooperative activities with new partners as appropriate.
9
http://www.brsmeas.org/?tabid=4648.
The main findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Stockholm
Convention pertaining to information exchange may be found in paragraphs 114 to 120 of the executive summary
of the report on the effectiveness evaluation of the Convention (UNEP/POPS/COP.8/22/Add.1).
11 Only applies to the decision to be considered by the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention.
12 UNEP/CHW.13/23-UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/22-UNEP/POPS/COP.8/26.
13 UNEP/CHW.13/INF/47-UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/INF/33-UNEP/POPS/COP.8/INF/50.
14 UNEP/CHW.13/INF/48-UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.8/INF/39-UNEP/POPS/COP.8/INF/43.
10
3