Opening of the meeting.

Organizational matters

Submission by Sweden

Item 1. Opening of the meeting

The first meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee will be held from 7 to 11 November 2005 in the Geneva International Conference Centre, Rue de Varembé 15, Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting will be opened at 10 a.m. on Monday, 7 November 2005.

Opening and welcoming statements will be delivered.

Note by the Secretariat

Paragraph 19 of the terms of reference of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (UNEP/POPS/COP.1/31, annex I, decision SC-1/7) requires the Committee to “establish confidentiality arrangements as a matter of priority. In handling confidential information and in establishing such arrangements, the Committee shall ensure that paragraph 5 of Article 9 of the Convention is respected”

Paragraph 5 of Article 9 of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants states that, for the purposes of the Convention, “information on health and safety of humans and the environment shall not be regarded as confidential”. Parties that exchange other information pursuant to the Convention “shall protect any confidential information as mutually agreed”

Note by the Secretariat

By decision SC-1/7, the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention established the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee and adopted the terms of reference of the Committee contained in the annex to the decision (UNEP/POPS/COP.1/31, annex I)

Paragraph 10 of the terms of reference provides for the establishment of a roster of experts who are not members of the Committee that the Committee may invite to support it in its work. Parties may designate experts for inclusion in the roster, noting their areas of expertise or specific substance knowledge

Note by the Secretariat

“If the Committee decides that

  (a)   It is satisfied that the screening criteria have been fulfilled, it shall, through the Secretariat, make the proposal and the evaluation of the Committee available to all Parties and observers and invite them to submit the information specified in Annex E …;”

Note by the Secretariat

The annex to the present note provides a summary prepared by the Secretariat, as requested by the Chair of the Committee, Mr. Reiner Arndt (Germany), of the proposal submitted by the Government of Norway for listing pentabromodiphenyl ether in Annex A of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 8 of the Convention. The complete submission is given in document UNEP/POPS/POPRC.1/INF/5

Possible action by the Committe

Note by the Secretariat

The annex to the present note reproduces the proposal by the European Union and its member States which are Parties to the Convention for listing chlordecone in Annex A of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 8 of the Convention. The proposal has been edited to be consistent with the other proposals before the Review Committee.

Possible action by the Committe

Note by the Secretariat

The annex to the present note contains the proposal by the European Union and its member States which are Parties to the Convention for listing hexabromobiphenyl in Annex A of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 8 of the Convention. The proposal has been edited to be consistent with the other proposals before the Review Committee

Possible action by the Committe

Note by the Secretariat

The annex to the present note provides a summary prepared by the Secretariat, as requested by the Chair of the Committee, Mr. Reiner Arndt (Germany), of the proposal submitted by the Government of Mexico for listing Lindane in Annex A of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 8 of the Convention. The complete submission is given in document UNEP/POPS/POPRC.1/INF/8

Possible action by the Committe

Note by the Secretariat

The annex to the present note provides a summary prepared by the Secretariat, as requested by the Chair of the Committee, Mr. Reiner Arndt (Germany), of the proposal submitted by the Government of Sweden for listing perfluorooctane sulfonate in Annex A of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 8 of the Convention. The complete submission is given in document UNEP/POPS/POPRC.1/INF/9

Possible action by the Committe

UK Draft List of Compounds Potentially Degrading to PFOS in the Environment

Table A1.1: Draft List of Compounds Potentially Degrading to PFOS in the Environment

Introduction

At its first meeting, held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, from 2 to 6 May 2005, the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants adopted decision SC-1/7, by which it established, pursuant to paragraph 6 of Article 19 of the Convention, a subsidiary body, to be called the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee, for the purposes of performing the functions assigned to that Committee by the Convention.

Following adoption of that decision, and in accordance with the rules of procedure for the Conference of the Parties and the terms of reference of the Committee, as set out in the annexes to decisions SC-1/1 and SC-1/7 respectively, the Conference of the Parties agreed that Mr. Reiner Arndt (Germany) would serve as Chair of the Committee