Co-organized with the OECD
Monday 18 April 2011
1 pm Geneva & Paris time
7 am Washington DC | 7 pm Beijing | 8 pm Tokyo time
Background
At the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention, in May 2009, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOS-F) were added to Annex B of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, resulting in the obligation for Parties to the Convention to restrict the production and use of these substances. This amendment to the Convention entered into force in August 2010.
Resolution II/5 of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM2) for the management of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) and transition to safer alternatives invites governments, international organizations, and other stakeholders to consider the development, facilitation and promotion in an open, transparent and inclusive manner of national and international stewardship programmes and regulatory approaches to reduce emissions and the content of relevant perfluorinated chemicals of concern in products and to work toward global elimination, where appropriate and technically feasible.
PFOS and its derivatives have been and continue to be used for a wide range of industrial applications. Replacing PFOS with other less hazardous chemicals in some of these applications is considered to be technically difficult but is essential for eventually eliminating the use of PFOS. To assist Parties and other stakeholders with the convention obligations regarding PFOS, the POPs Review Committee, a scientific subsidiary body of the Stockholm Convention, has developed a guidance document on alternatives to PFOS and its derivatives.
The OECD’s PFC Steering Group and the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention organise the webinar on alternatives to long chain PFCs to support efforts in eliminating these chemicals of concern.
Objectives
- To provide updates on activities related to alternatives to long chain PFCs,
- To introduce the guidance on alternatives to PFOS and its derivatives developed by the Stockholm Convention’s POPs Review Committee,
- To share country experience in managing PFCs, and
- To discuss the ideas to address the challenges in sharing information and experience.
Agenda
- Opening (Stockholm Secretariat/OECD) – 2 minutes
- Presentations
- Introduction to PFC related work at OECD (Mr. Peter Börkey/OECD) – 5 min
- Introduction on PFOS under the Stockholm Convention (Ms. Melisa Lim/Stockholm Convention Secretariat) – 8 min
- Guidance on alternatives to PFOS related substances developed by the POPs Review Committee (Prof. Samuel Banda/Committee member) – 8 min
- Input from industry on alternatives to PFCs (Mr. Richard Holt/FluoroCouncil) – 8 min
- USA’s efforts on alternatives to PFCs (Mr. Toni Krasnic/US EPA) – 8 min
- Japan’s efforts on management of PFCs (Mr. Tadahiro Ikemoto/MOE Japan) – 8 min
- Questions/Answer – 10 min