Recast of EU Regulation Implementing the Rotterdam Convention enters into force
17 September 2012
The new EU Prior Informed Consent Regulation
(PIC Regulation (EU) 649/2012) came into
force on 16 August 2012. The Regulation is a recast of the previous
PIC Regulation 689/2008, which implements at Union-level the global
Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed
Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in
International Trade, which concerns the import and export of
hazardous chemicals.
A key provision of the Rotterdam Convention, which
was signed in 1998 and entered into force in 2004, requires
industry to notify the relevant authorities of their intention to
import or export any of the hazardous chemicals listed under Annex
I of the Convention. The Rotterdam Convention was implemented in
the EU by Regulation 689/2008 on the export and import of dangerous
chemicals (the so-called "PIC Regulation"), which was amended
several times. The new Regulation 649/2012 concerning the export
and import of hazardous chemicals is a recast of the previous PIC
Regulation. As far as exporters and importers are concerned, the
new PIC Regulation will mean only a limited number of changes to
the existing requirements. However, under the new PIC Regulation,
ECHA will be required to transmit the notifications to all
importing (non-EU) countries and to update and maintain a
publically-available database of these notifications. The database
will also include the explicit consent responses from the
designated national authorities of third country importers, which
register a state's consent to the import of an Annex I chemical.
The Regulation will not apply until 1 March 2014, from which point
ECHA will be responsible for the administrative and technical tasks
related to the new Regulation. At present the notification process
is administered by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre
(JRC) via the European Database of Export and Import of Dangerous
Chemicals (EDEXIM).
New Tasks
To prepare for the implementation of the regulatory
framework, ECHA will have to recruit new staff and develop new IT
tools. In future, ECHA will also be required to fulfil an important
support role, as a source of technical and scientific guidance to
industry, national authorities and the Commission, and as the
manager of all communication related to the PIC Regulation.
It would seem that ECHA's workload continues to increase: as well
as the PIC Regulation, ECHA is also already responsible for the
REACH and the CLP Regulations and for the new Biocidal Products
Regulation.
For more information, please contact us.