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.

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 shall enter into force on 26 August 2010 for all Parties that have 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:

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.   A list and a map of Parties and Signatories to the Stockholm Convention can be viewed.

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:

An ad hoc joint working group on enhancing cooperation and coordination among the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Convention was established by the Conference of Parties of each of the Convention.  The group is composed of 15 representatives of parties of each Convention for a total of forty-five members.  Meetings of the group are not open to observers.  The mandate of the group is to prepare joint recommendations on enhancing cooperation and coordination among the three Conventions for consideration by the Conferences of the Parties of each.  The first meeting of the group was held from 26-28 March 2007 in Helsinki.  The groups is expected to complete two additional meetings before the end of March 2008 so that its recommendations can be made available in advance of the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention to be held in June 2008.  The recommendations will then go to the meetings of the Conferences of the Parties of the Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions to be held in October 2008 and May 2009 respectively.  Documents and other information about the group are available at the joint website: http://ahjwg.chem.unep.ch/

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.