About the convention     

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have adverse effects to human health or to the environment.  Exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) can lead serious health effects including certain cancers, birth defects, dysfunctional immune and reproductive systems, greater susceptibility to disease and even diminished intelligence.  Given their long range transport, no one government acting alone can protect is citizens or its environment from POPs.  In response to this global problem, the Stockholm Convention, which was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004, requires Parties to take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment.  The Convention is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme and is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

The text of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted 22 May 2001 and entered into force ninety days after the deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession by a country to the Convention, 17 May 2004.  The original text of the Convention of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are equally authentic is deposited with the Secretary General of the United Nations, at the United Nations Treaty Section in New York.  The Convention was amended at the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to add a new Annex G on arbitration and conciliation procedures. The Convention text was also amended in 2009 to include the nine new POPs added to its Annexes A, B and C. 

On 26 August 2009, the depositary communicated the adoption of the amendment to Annexes A, B and C of the Stockholm Convention. As a result, the amendments entered into force on 26 August 2010 for all Parties that had not submitted a notification pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 3(b) of Article 22.

In accordance with paragraph 4 of article 22, an amendment to Annex A, B or C shall not enter into force with respect to any Party that has made a declaration with respect to amendment to those Annexes in accordance with paragraph 4 of article 25. Thus, such amendment shall enter into force for such a Party on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit with the depositary of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with respect to such amendment.

For further information, please read the depositary notification below, which includes the texts of the amendments to Annexes A, B and C:

There are 18 Parties that, in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 25 of the Convention, had declared in their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to become a Party to the Convention, that any amendment to Annexes A, B or C shall enter into force only upon deposit of their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with respect to such amendments.

Countries that became Parties to the Stockholm Convention following the adoption of these amendments are bound to the whole of the Convention as amended.

The amendments add the following chemicals to Annexes A, B and/or C of the Convention: alpha hexachlorocyclohexane; beta hexachlorocyclohexane; chlordecone; hexabromobiphenyl; hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether (commercial octabromodiphenyl ether); lindane; pentachlorobenzene; perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooactane sulfonyl fluoride; and tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether (commercial pentabromodiphenyl ether). Several of these POPs are widely used worldwide, thus Parties will have to take action, control their production and use and reduce or eliminate their release into the environment.

One Party has notified the Depositary that it is unable to accept the amendments, in accordance with paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 22 (see Notification below).  

Notification by New Zealand of non-acceptance of the amendments (23 August 2010) 

To become a Party to the Convention a State or regional economic integration organization needs to submit its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the depositary.  The list of Parties and Signatories to the Stockholm Convention is available in the Status of Ratifications page.

Parties nominate official contact points for the purpose of administrative functions and all official communications under the Convention.  Parties shall also nominate national focal points for the purpose of information exchange pursuant to Article 9 of the Convention.   The forms for making these nominations and the updated list of Stockholm Convention official contact points and national focal points for the purpose of information exchange pursuant to Article 9 can be found here.

Enhancing coordination and cooperation among the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions are multilateral environmental agreements, which share the common objective of protecting human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals and wastes. These agreements can assist countries to manage chemicals at different stages of their life-cycle.

Recognizing the potential for synergistic work under the three conventions at the national, regional and global levels, the international community has worked over the past years on enhancing cooperation and coordination among the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Convention. These efforts culminated in the adoption of recommendations on enhancing cooperation and coordination among the three conventions by the three Conferences of the Parties held in 2008 and 2009, and the holding of simultaneous extraordinary meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions in Bali, Indonesia in February 2010.

For more information, please consult the synergies joint website.

Under the Stockholm Convention there are four types of observers:

1. States not Party to the Convention (“Non-Party States”);

2. United Nations, its specialized agencies, International Atomic Energy Agency and the Global Environment Facility ;

3. National and international intergovernmental bodies and agencies accredited by the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention;

4. National and international nongovernmental bodies and agencies accredited by the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention.

Non-Party States may nominate contact points for communications concerning matters pertaining to the Convention.  Non-Party States may nominate official contact points for administrative and other formal communications using this form and may nominate national focal points for the exchange of information pursuant to Article 9 of the Convention using this form.

National and international nongovernmental bodies or agencies qualified in matters covered by the Convention that wish to be acceded to meetings of the Conference of the Parties submit information listed in the attached to the Secretariat for consideration by the Conference at its next ordinary meeting.