[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 161 (Wednesday, August 20, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44303-44304]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-22025]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice No. 2590]


Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science; Public Meeting on an 
International Agreement on Prior Informed Consent for Certain Hazardous 
Chemicals and Pesticides

SUMMARY: This public meeting will provide an overview of ongoing 
negotiations through the U.N. Environment Program and the Food and 
Agriculture Organization to develop a binding agreement on the 
application of a prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous 
chemicals and pesticides. The meeting will take place from 2:00 to 4:00 
p.m. on September 24 in Room 6909, State Department, 2201 C Street 
Northwest, Washington, D.C. Attendees should use the entrance at C 
Street, and should provide Eunice Mourning (202-647-9266) with their 
date of birth and social security number by noon on September 23. 
Attendees should bring picture identification.
    For further information, please contact Mr. Trigg Talley, U.S. 
Department of State, OES/ENV, Room 4325, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, 
D.C. 20520. Phone 202-647-5808, fax 202-647-5947.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The United States, through an interagency 
working group chaired by the State Department, is involved in 
negotiations through the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 
and the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) on an agreement that would 
set into place a procedure for prior informed consent (PIC) for trade 
in certain especially hazardous chemicals and pesticides. Three 
negotiating sessions have taken place thus far, with two more sessions 
planned.
    The agreement would make binding a currently voluntary scheme 
contained in the FAO International Code of Conduct on the Distribution 
and Use of Pesticides and the UNEP London Guidelines for the Exchange 
of Information on Chemicals in International Trade. The PIC procedure 
was developed in recognition of the fact that many countries in the 
developing world have inadequate capacity to generate information 
necessary to make decisions regarding how to effectively manage risks 
of especially hazardous chemicals, and in certain cases to ensure 
adequate compliance with risk management decisions. The procedure 
assists countries in learning more about the characteristics of certain 
especially hazardous chemicals that may be shipped to them, initiates a 
decision making process on the future import of these chemicals by the 
countries themselves, and facilitates the dissemination of this 
decision to other countries.
    The voluntary PIC regime has been in place since 1991. 151 
countries participate in the current scheme, which is jointly 
administered by the Plant Protection Division of FAO (for pesticides) 
and the UNEP International Registry for Potentially Toxic Chemicals 
(for other chemicals). Most major industrial chemical and pesticide 
associations support and participate in the system. Under the 
procedure, each country establishes a designated national authority to 
administer the procedure. In the United States, the Environmental 
Protection Agency's Assistant Administrator for Pesticides, Prevention 
and Toxic Substances acts as the designated national authority.
    Chemicals eligible for the PIC procedure include those which have 
been banned or severely restricted by participating countries, as well 
as certain acutely hazardous pesticides which--even though they are not 
eligible on the basis of bans or severe restrictions--are likely to 
pose particular problems in developing countries lacking the ability to 
impose the kinds of rigorous handling requirements available in 
developed countries.
    Under the PIC procedure, countries notify the UNEP/FAO secretariat 
of domestic control actions to ban or severely restrict chemicals. A 
UNEP/FAO Group of Experts meets annually to prioritize among those 
chemicals eligible for the PIC procedure, and gives direction regarding 
the development of Decision Guidance Documents (DGDs) to provide 
information relating to each of the chemicals to be included in the 
procedure. DGDs describe the chemical and associated toxicological 
properties, as well as government control actions and the reasons for 
them. Once approved, the Decision Guidance Documents are circulated to 
participating countries for decision. In their decision, countries 
indicate whether they will permit use and importation, prohibit use and 
importation, or permit importation only under specified conditions. The 
response may be final, or countries may provide an interim response. 
Importing countries are expected to ensure that their decisions are 
applied to all sources of import and to domestic production for 
domestic use; exporting countries are expected to ensure that exports 
do not occur contrary to the decisions of importing countries. So far, 
16 chemicals have been included in the procedure, and DGDs for a number 
of others are under development.
    In order to enhance participation in the system, governments agreed 
in 1994 through FAO and UNEP to undertake negotiations to replace the 
voluntary process with a treaty-based regime. Negotiations have been 
underway since 1996, with three negotiating sessions occurring so far. 
Two more sessions are planned, with one session October 20-24, 1997, 
and one for January 1998. A signing conference is planned for sometime 
next spring.
    The current negotiating text, as well as more complete information 
on the voluntary procedure and the negotiations generally, is located 
on the internet on the PIC Home Page (http://irptc.unep.ch/pic/
h2.html), which can also be accessed through the UNEP Home Page 
(www.unep.ch).
    The United States has advocated that the binding agreement reflect 
the scope and intent of the voluntary prior informed consent procedure. 
We have advocated greater formality in the procedures for consideration 
of additional chemicals to the list, reflecting the more formal nature 
of the

[[Page 44304]]

agreement. The Administration expects that the Agreement will be a 
treaty, which will be submitted to the Senate for advice and consent 
necessary for ratification, and that certain changes would need to be 
made to Section 12 of the Toxic Substances Control Act and Section 17 
of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act to meet an 
obligation to ensure that exports of PIC-listed chemicals do not occur 
contrary to decisions regarding those chemicals by importing countries.
    In the negotiations, other countries have made proposals which 
would make eligible a somewhat broader range of chemicals than under 
the voluntary guidelines, and which would include information exchange 
provisions which, if accepted, could require other changes to TSCA and 
FIFRA, as well as the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. In particular, 
there are proposals to include provisions requiring notifications for 
exports of chemicals which are banned or severely restricted under 
national law (Article 11 of the proposed text), as well as certain 
proposals regarding labeling and material safety data sheets for 
chemicals (Article 12 of the proposed text).
    The Department of State is issuing this notice to help ensure that 
potentially affected parties are aware of and knowledgeable about the 
parameters of these negotiations. In the future, we will be contacting 
interested organizations about planned briefings by mail or fax. Those 
organizations which cannot attend the meeting, but wish to remain 
informed, should provide Mr. Trigg Talley of the Department of State 
with their address, telephone and fax numbers.

    Dated: August 14, 1997.
Trigg Talley,
Foreign Affairs Officer, Office of Environmental Policy.
[FR Doc. 97-22025 Filed 8-19-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-09-M