[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 6 (Monday, February 14, 2000)]
[Pages 264-265]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior 
Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and 
Pesticides in International Trade With Annexes

February 9, 2000

To the Senate of the United States:

    I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to 
ratification, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent 
Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in 
International Trade, with Annexes, done at Rotterdam, September 10, 
1998. The report of the Department of State is enclosed for the 
information of the Senate.
    The Convention, which was negotiated under the auspices of the 
United Nations Environment Program and the United Nations Food and 
Agriculture Organization, with the active participation of the United 
States, provides a significant and valuable international tool to 
promote sound risk-based decisionmaking in the trade of certain 
hazardous chemicals. Building on a successful voluntary procedure, the 
Convention requires Parties to exchange information about these 
chemicals, to communicate national decisions about their import, and to 
require that exports from their territories comply with the import 
decisions of other Parties.
    The United States, with the assistance and cooperation of industry 
and nongovernmental organization, plays an important international 
leadership role in the safe management of hazardous chemicals and 
pesticides. This Convention, which assists developing countries in 
evaluating risks and enforcing their regulatory decisions regarding

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trade in such chemicals, advances and promotes U.S. objectives in this 
regard. All relevant Federal agencies support early ratification of the 
Convention for this reason, and we understand that the affected 
industries and interest groups share this view.
    I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration 
to the Convention and give its advice and consent to ratification, 
subject to the understanding described in the accompanying report of the 
Secretary of State.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
February 9, 2000.