Acceptable Purposes

To enable Parties to the Convention to take measures to reduce or eliminate releases of POPs from intentional production and use, for which alternatives do not exist yet or are not readily available, the Convention allows Parties to register specific exemptions for a specific period of time, as well as to register for acceptable purposes. 

The Conference of the Parties decides which acceptable purposes are available when it adopts a decision amending the Convention to list a new chemical in the Annex. 

Registers have been established for acceptable purposes relating to DDT and PFOS, its salts and PFOS-F.

Registers of Acceptable Purposes

The Registers of acceptable purposes in relation to DDT and PFOS / PFOS-F, were established in accordance with the provisions of Annex B of the Stockholm Convention.

These Registers have been updated after decisions adopted by the Conference of the Parties so as to include acceptable purposes available following adoption of amendments to annexes to the Convention, as well as to take into account withdrawals of notifications of acceptable purposes. For further information, please see here.


Dates of entry into force of the amendments to Annexes to the Convention

An indicative table on the status and entry into force of the amendments to the Annexes is available in the Amendments to Annexes to the Stockholm Convention page.

List of Acceptable Purposes


Chemical

Activity
Acceptable purpose
DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis 4-chlorophenyl)ethane) CAS No: 50-29-3 Production Disease vector control use in accordance with Part II of Annex B

Use

Disease vector control in accordance with Part II of Annex B
Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (CAS No: 1763-23-1), its saltsa and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride
(CAS No: 307-35-7)


a For example:
potassium perfluorooctane sulfonate
(CAS no. 2795-39-3);
lithium perfluorooctane sulfonate
(CAS no. 29457-72-5);
ammonium perfluorooctane sulfonate
(CAS no. 29081-56-9);
diethanolammonium perfluorooctane sulfonate
(CAS no. 70225-14-8);
tetraethylammonium perfluorooctane sulfonate
(CAS no. 56773-42-3);
didecyldimethylammonium perfluorooctane sulfonate
(CAS no. 251099-16-8).
Production In accordance with Part III of Annex B, production of other chemicals to be used solely for the uses below. Production for uses listed below.

 

 Use

As adopted by decision SC-4/17:

In accordance with Part III of Annex B for the following acceptable purposes, or as an intermediate in the production of chemicals with the following acceptable purposes:

  • Photo imaging
  • Photo resist and anti-reflective coatings for semi-conductors
  • Etching agent for compound semi-conductors and ceramic filters
  • Aviation hydraulic fluids
  • Metal plating (hard metal plating) only in closed-loop systems
  • Certain medical devices (such as ethylene tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE) layers and radio-opaque ETFE production, in vitro diagnostic medical devices, and CCD colour filters)
  • Fire fighting foam
  • Insect baits for control of leaf-cutting ants from Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp.

As adopted by decision SC-9/4 (entry into force on 3 December 2020):

In accordance with Part III of Annex B for the following acceptable purposes, or as an intermediate in the production of chemicals with the following acceptable purpose:

  • Insect baits with sulfluramid (CAS No. 4151-50-2) as an active ingredient for control of leaf-cutting ants from Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp. for agricultural use only