Recommends to the Conference of the Parties that it amend the terms of reference of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee by inserting a new paragraph after paragraph 15, with the following paragraphs being renumbered accordingly, with the text to read:
“The Committee shall meet in closed session before the start of each meeting of the Committee to discuss any issues related to conflicts of interest of Committee members. Should any conflict of interest of a Committee member arise, the Chair of the Committee shall consult the President of the Conference of the Parties and the Executive Secretary with a view to making a decision on the member’s participation in the Committee’s work in respect of a particular chemical.”

Taking note of decisions SC-4/10–SC-4/18, by which the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants amended Annexes A, B and C to the Convention to list nine new chemicals therein,

Recalling decision SC-4/19, by which the Conference of the Parties established indicative elements of a work programme to provide guidance to the parties on how best to eliminate listed brominated diphenyl ethers, and to restrict or eliminate perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and its salts, perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF) and other chemicals listed in Annex A or B to the Convention at the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties,

1. Recommends that, with regard to the chemicals newly listed in Annexes A, B and C to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants by amendments to the Convention, the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention invite the appropriate bodies of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal:
(a) To establish the levels of destruction and irreversible transformation of these chemicals necessary to ensure that the characteristics of persistent organic pollutants as specified in paragraph 1 of Annex D to the Stockholm Convention are not exhibited;

Noting decision SC-4/16, by which the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants amended Annexes A and C to the Convention to list pentachlorobenzene therein,
Taking note of the new information on unintentional releases of pentachlorobenzene provided to it,

1. Endorses the revised guidance document on alternatives to perfluorooctane sulfonate and its derivatives and invites parties and observers to disseminate and make use of that document;

2. Agrees that the guidance document should be revised regularly as necessary to take into account available information on alternatives to perfluorooctane sulfonate and its derivatives;

Recalling that, in its evaluation of whether a chemical is likely, as a result of its long-range environmental transport, to lead to significant adverse effects on human health and/or the environment such that global action is warranted, the Committee may include in an Annex E risk profile a hazard assessment for the endpoint or endpoints of concern, including a consideration of toxicological interactions involving multiple chemicals,

Recalling that, at its fourth meeting, the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants requested the Secretariat of the Convention to continue work to support and strengthen the capacity of developing-country parties or parties with economies in transition to participate fully in the Committee’s work,

The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee,

Having completed the risk management evaluation for endosulfan in accordance with paragraph 7 (a) of Article 8 of the Convention,

1. Adopts the risk management evaluation for endosulfan

The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee,

Having completed an evaluation of the proposal by Norway to list hexabromocyclododecane in the annexes to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and having decided at its fifth meeting, by decision POPRC-5/6, that the proposal meets the criteria set out in Annex D to the Convention,

Having also completed the risk profile for hexabromocyclododecane in accordance with paragraph 6 of Article 8 of the Convention,

1. Adopts the risk profile for hexabromocyclododecane;

Noting that paragraph 3 of Article 3 of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants requires those parties that have regulatory and assessment schemes for new pesticides or new industrial chemicals to take measures to regulate with the aim of preventing the production and use of new pesticides or new industrial chemicals which, taking into consideration the criteria contained in paragraph 1 of Annex D, exhibit the characteristics of persistent organic pollutants,

Noting also that paragraph 4 of Article 3 requires those parties that have regulatory and assessment schemes for pesticides or industrial chemicals, to take into consideration within these schemes, where appropriate, the criteria contained in paragraph 1 of Annex D to the Convention when assessing pesticides or industrial chemicals currently in use,

Noting that, pursuant to note (i) of part I of Annexes A and B to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, quantities of a chemical occurring as unintentional trace contaminants in products and articles shall not be considered for listing in Annexes A and B to the Convention,

Recognizing that the compilation of information related to national regulations on unintentional trace contaminants in products and articles could be further updated and complemented with additional information,

Taking into account the information provided on the initiative by the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants to review the interlinkages between climate change and persistent organic pollutants in support of the work of the coordination group of the global monitoring plan on persistent organic pollutants,

Noting the outcome of the study by the expert group on climate change and persistent organic pollutants convened by the Secretariat,

Invites the Conference of the Parties to forward the outcome of the study by the expert group to the Committee for further consideration of the study’s possible implications for the Committee’s work.