Rome, Italy, from 17 to 20 October 2017
Venue: FAO Headquarters, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy.
Highlights
The thirteenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC-13) was held from 17 to 20 October 2017 at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. POPRC-13 was organized back-to-back with the thirteenth meeting of the Chemical Review Committee of the Rotterdam Convention, convening at the same venue from 23 to 27 October 2017.
At its thirteenth meeting, the Committee adopted the risk management evaluation on dicofol and recommended to the Conference of the Parties (COP) that it consider listing it in Annex A to the Convention without specific exemptions. It also adopted the risk management evaluation on pentadecafluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds and recommended to the COP that it consider listing the chemicals in Annex A or B to the Convention with the specific exemptions specified in the decision. Further work is expected by the Committee intersessionally and at its fourteenth meeting to define the need for possible specific exemptions for certain additional applications and to evaluate their unintentional releases in the view of strengthening its recommendation to the COP.
The Committee agreed that perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and PFHxS-related compounds met the screening criteria in Annex D and established an intersessional working group to prepare a draft risk profile. On PFOS, its salts and PFOSF, the Committee adopted the terms of reference for the assessment of alternatives to the chemicals, in accordance with the process for the evaluation of these chemicals pursuant to paragraphs 5 and 6 of part III of Annex B to the Convention. It also discussed a report on activities for effective participation in the work of the Committee and adopted the workplan for the intersessional period between the thirteenth and fourteenth meetings of the Committee.