concerning the arrangements to perform jointly the Secretariat Functions

This is done through appendix IV of the PIC Circular.

Of the four chemicals concerned, two are currently not subject to the prior informed consent procedure.

Of the 201 chemicals concerned, 160 are currently not subject to the prior informed consent procedure.

Such summaries and synopses are communicated to Parties and participating States through the PIC Circular.

To begin a new proposal submission procedure, newly received notifications from each of two PIC regions are required.

The PIC Circular is published every six months, in June and December.

The information was included with the PIC Circular, which was sent to all designated national authorities.

Those import decisions will be reflected in the PIC Circular of December 2005.

Summaries of the proposals verified as complete are circulated in appendix II of the PIC Circular.

Table 2. Overview of the number of importing country responses for all prior informed consent chemicals (as at 30 April 2005)

In electing members, due consideration shall be given to the principle of equitable geographical representation of the regional groups of the United Nations the PIC regions .

I Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade

For one chemical, three notifications from different prior informed consent regions were found to fulfill all the criteria of Annex II.

Overview of free, prior and informed consent

The expected number of responses is calculated for all countries participating in the prior informed consent procedure at the time indicated for chemicals concerned in each column.

Report of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade on the work of its second meeting

Also, any response listed in the PIC Circular that does not address importation is considered to be an interim response that does not contain an interim decision.

(e) Parties should consider the need for and practical implementation of athe prior informed consent procedure for ODS imports similar to the one used in the Basel Convention

Participating State means a State or regional economic integration organization that is not a Party to the Convention, but that has nominated a designated national authority or authorities for the purpose of participating in the PIC procedure.

Legal commentary on the concept of free, prior and informed consent

If the introduction of a prior informed consent system necessitated an amendment to the Protocol, that needed to be considered very carefully, as ratification of amendments was always a long process.

The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade entered into force on 24 February 2004.

It covers pesticides and industrial chemicals that have been banned or severely restricted for health or environmental reasons by Parties and which have been notified by Parties for inclusion in the PIC procedure.

(a) Legal commentary on the concept of free, prior and informed consent

Legal commentary on the concept of free, prior and informed consent

Relevance of institutional policy frameworks to free, prior and informed consent

Elements of a common understanding of free, prior and informed consent

Case studies should be undertaken to analyse current practices of principles of free, prior and informed consent.

It should be noted that, under article 10 of the Convention, obligations relating to the submission of import responses apply equally to all categories of chemicals subject to the prior informed consent procedure.

The functions of the secretariat are defined in Article 19, paragraph 2, of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade.

In contrast, while the Rotterdam Convention seeks to regulate (through the prior informed consent procedure) the international market in banned or severely restricted chemicals, the Convention did not create that market.

At its first meeting, the Chemical Review Committee considered 14 chemicals, where at least one notification had been received from at least two prior informed consent regions.

Special issues and free, prior and informed consent in relation to special areas of work

Participants shared their views on the principle and the practices of free, prior and informed consent.

This synopsis is provided in the PIC Circular in English, French and Spanish.

Lessons and challenges in the application of FPIC towards a common inter agency operational understanding of FPIC

Review of the draft principles and guidelines on the protection of the heritage of indigenous peoples 42 48 12

The implementation of the principle of free, prior and informed consent presented a number of practical problems.

Examples of the application of free, prior and informed consent at the national and international levels

Appendix III of the PIC Circular contains a list of chemicals that are currently included in Annex III of the Convention and the date of first dispatch of the corresponding decision guidance document to designated national authorities.

Those chemicals will be candidates for further consideration once a second notification verified as meeting the information requirements of Annex I has been submitted from a second prior informed consent region.

The information provided in the present note includes a summary of the information circulated to designated national authorities by the secretariat through the PIC Circular pursuant to articles 4 7, 10, 11 and 14 of the Convention.

Also included is information relating to provisions in articles 12, 14 and 16, including activities of Parties which are not reported in the PIC Circular.

However, tThe question of unauthorized access and misappropriation of genetic resources, however, hads led to the current discussions under the Convention process regarding the tracking of compliance with the prior informed consent requirement established under Article 15.