Dangerous chemicals: export and import, Rotterdam Convention provisions

PURPOSE : to implement the Rotterdam convention and to establish import and export notification procedures for dangerous chemicals. COMMUNITY MEASURE : Regulation 304/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the council concerning the export and import of dangerous chemicals. CONTENT : The objectives of this Regulation are: - to implement the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade; - to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts in the international movement of hazardous chemicals in order to protect human health and the environment from potential harm; and - to contribute to their environmentally sound use. They will be achieved by facilitating information exchange about the characteristics of such chemicals, by providing for a decision-making process within the Community on their import and export and by disseminating decisions to Parties and other countries as appropriate. This Regulation will also ensure that the provisions of Council Directive 67/548/EEC relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances, and of Directive 1999/45/EC relating to dangerous preparations will also apply to all such chemicals when they are exported from the Member States to other Parties or other countries, unless these provisions would conflict with any specific requirements of those Parties or other countries. This Regulation applies to: - certain hazardous chemicals that are subject to the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure under the Rotterdam Convention; - certain hazardous chemicals that are banned or severely restricted within the Community or a Member State; and - all chemicals when exported insofar as their classification, packaging and labelling are concerned. The main provisions of the Regulation are as follows: - the Commission will act as the contact point for Community interaction with the Secretariat of the Convention; - the participation of the Community in the Convention is the joint responsibility of the Commission and the Member States; - the chemicals covered by the provisions of the Regulation relating to export notification, PIC notification and PIC procedure respectively are listed in Annex 1; - exporters and importers must provide information about the quantities of chemicals in international trade covered by this Regulation; - decisions taken by the Community with regard to the import of chemicals subject to the international PIC procedure must take into account bans or severe restrictions by Member States; - no chemicals banned or severely restricted within the Community that meet the Convention criteria or that are covered under the international PIC procedure will be exported without the explicit consent of the importing country concerned, whether or not that country is a Party to the Convention; - information about appropriate storage conditions must be provided; - whilst articles containing chemicals do not fall within the scope of the Convention, articles containing chemicals that are banned or severely restricted in the Community within a usecategory laid down in the Convention or are subject to the international PIC procedure are also subject to export notification rules; ENTRY INTO FORCE: 07/03/03.�