Training Workshop - Latin America and the Caribbean

Regional workshop on updating national implementation plans and reporting under Stockholm Convention

The Regional workshop on updating national implementation plans and reporting under Stockholm Convention was held from 5 to 8 August 2014 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Background: The addition of chemicals to Annexes A, B or C of the Convention triggers the need for most parties to review and update the national implementation plans (NIPs) in accordance with decision SC-1/12. In 2009, nine new chemicals were added to the Annexes of the Convention and in 2011, endosulfan was added to Annex A of the Convention.

The process of reviewing and updating the NIPs can be challenging for parties that lack adequate resources and technical capacity. Parties have expressed the need for assistance in that regard and in particular in addressing newly listed POPs that are widely used for industrial purposes and are contained in products and articles. In accordance with decision SC-4/9 that requested the Secretariat to identify any additional guidance that might be required to assist parties in their development and implementation of the Convention, a set of guidance documents has been developed to assist parties in reviewing and updating their NIPs with information relating to newly listed POPs. These documents should assist parties in developing strategies to restrict and eliminate the newly listed POPs by providing guidance on establishing inventories, controlling the import of new POPs, monitoring the presence of products and articles containing new POPs, selecting best available techniques and best environmental practices for the management of new POPs.

While updating their NIPs in order to address the newly listed POPs parties should also evaluate effectiveness of the action plans and strategies included in the original NIP. Reviewing of the adopted strategies and measures to reduce or eliminate releases of Annex C POPs, will require to elaborate updated release inventories in order to evaluate whether the unintentional releases actually decreased.

Parties to the Stockholm Convention are also required to transmit national reports every four years to the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention. The reports contain qualitative information on the measures taken to implement the Convention and on the effectiveness of such measures. Additionally, Parties are required to report quantitative information which includes statistical data on the production, import and export of the chemicals listed in Annexes A and B, among others. Based on these obligations, the Secretariat has developed electronic reporting systems, one for each convention, where Parties can report directly online.

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