WRc, in partnership with the Brussels-based environmental legal company, Milieu, has just been re-awarded a 30-month contract to provide technical advice to the European Commission on the Rotterdam Convention, which we have been carrying out for the last six years. This includes the preparation of notifications of chemicals that are banned or severely restricted within the European Community.
There has been a dramatic growth in the production and trade of chemicals in the last 30 years, which has led to concerns about the potential risk posed by hazardous chemicals and pesticides. Developing countries, lacking the necessary infrastructure to adequately monitor the import and use of these chemicals, are particularly vulnerable.
The Rotterdam Convention attempts to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts in the trade of certain hazardous chemicals, in order to protect human health and the environment from potential harm and to exchange information on these chemicals to aid national decision-making. 140 countries are now parties to the Convention which is organised and run by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agricultural Organization. The Rotterdam Convention, together with the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Montreal Protocol on Ozone-depleting Chemicals, form the basis of an attempt to begin to control global pollution.
Further information is available from Annette Ewence at annette.ewence@wrcplc.co.uk or telephone +44 (0) 1793 865102.