ASrIA - International Initiatives

The main role of EC Environment is to initiate and define new environmental legislation and to ensure that agreed measures are implemented in EU Member States.

Chemicals policy has been one of the main focus areas in recent years in recognition of an urgent need to protect health and environment and to create common standards shared in the EU. This leads to a particular focus on consumer products, amongst them dangerous chemicals. The latest accomplishment was the adoption of the REACH regulation in December 2006, which relates to the following legislation:

Directive on the Classification, Packaging and Labeling of Dangerous Substances;
Directive on the Classification, Packaging and Labeling of Dangerous Preparations;
Regulation on the Evaluation and Control of the Risks of Existing Substances; and
Directive on Restrictions on the Marketing and Use of certain Dangerous Substances and Preparations

The EC Environment website offers extensive information on the history and the current state of related legislation by category, e.g. dangerous substances, existing substances, biocides, dioxin exposure, endocrine disrupting chemicals, volatile organic compounds, POPs, etc.

Environmental Health became another focus area in 2003 with the overall aim to reduce diseases caused by environmental factors in Europe. This was followed by the "European Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010" that builds on an assessment of current baseline knowledge in the areas of: (1) integrated monitoring of dioxins & PCBs, heavy metals, endocrine disrupters; (2) childhood cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, respiratory health; and (3) human biomonitoring, environment and health indicators, research needs. The outcomes will generate the basic information to analyse all the potential impacts; to assess whether current action is sufficient; and to identify areas where there should be new action.

Waste prevention and management is one of the four top priorities identified under the EU's Environment Action Programme for 2002-2012. Those areas related to toxic chemical substances are as follows:

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) and Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) - designed to (a) tackle the fast increasing waste stream of electrical and electronic equipment by promoting recycling and reuse of electrical and electronic equipment and (b) substitute various heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium) and brominated flame retardants (polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)) with safe or safer substances in new electrical and electronic equipment put on the market from 1 July 2006
Hazardous waste - regulated under Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste and the Waste List Decision, which are amended based on the scientific findings
PCBs & PCTs - regulated under Directive 96/59/EC on the disposal of PCBs and PCTs which aims at disposing completely of PCBs and equipment containing PCBs as soon as possible, and for big equipment before the end of 2010
PVC - no specific regulation on this yet, but a "Green Paper on the Environment Issues on PVC" was adopted in July 2000

ECB is the main provider of scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation, and monitoring of EU chemicals policies. ECB's work areas include:

Assessment of new, existing chemicals, and biocides - ensuring the development of methodologies and software tools to support a systematic and harmonised assessment of chemicals addressed in a number of European directives and regulations; Import & export chemicals - maintaining/upgrading the database on export and import of toxic chemicals in an aim to ensure the implementation of the EU export notification procedure; to make the Rotterdam Convention legally binding within the EU community; and to use outside the community the same rules for classification, packaging and labeling that apply in the EU internal market; Classification & labeling - focusing on the classification and labelling of substances to facilitate the transition to REACH
Testing methods - responsible for the technical and scientific work needed for the development, introduction, and adaptation to technical progress of testing methods of Annex V on the determination of chemicals and its adaptations

UNEP Chemicals is a unit of UNEP's Technology, Industry, and Economics Division and the center for all chemicals-related activities in the United Nations. Its main activities are ensuring the sound management of hazardous chemicals with the goal to take actions to promote chemical safety. To achieve this, the UNEP Chemicals Unit helps nations participate in global actions for the sound management of chemicals by providing countries with access to information on toxic chemicals, by assisting countries to build capacity to manage risks posed by such chemicals, and by supporting/promoting collaborated global actions such as the Stockholm and the Rotterdam Conventions. The Chemicals Unit's main activities are as follows:

UNEP's collaborating efforts to call for global actions on POPs took off when its Governing Council decided to initiate the POPs negotiations in 1995. An Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) was established with a mandate to prepare a legally binding instrument for implementing collaborated actions on POPs. These series of negotiations finally resulted in the birth of the Stockholm Convention in 2001. The UNEP Chemicals Unit's work on POPs helped facilitate those negotiations, promoting the idea of early reduction and elimination of releases of POPs through information exchange and capacity building programmes. The Chemicals Unit provided a secretariat for the Stockholm Convention.

UNEP, jointly with UN Food & Agricultural organization (FAO), initiated the original PIC procedure regarding certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade in 1989. The Rotterdam Convention subsequently adopted this original PIC procedure as a voluntary interim measure until February 2006, after which the PIC procedure became fully mandatory. The bottom line of the Rotterdam Convention is that it prevents export of harmful pesticides and industrial chemicals, unless the importing country agrees to accept them. There are 39 chemicals listed in Annex III of the Convention including 24 pesticides, 4 severely hazardous pesticide formulations and 11 industrial chemicals. The PIC program promotes understanding and training in the Convention's implementation.

The SAICM is a policy framework for international action on chemical hazards adopted by the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) in February 2006. The high level of declaration was presented upon the adoption of the SAICM, expressing strong commitment by ministers, heads of delegation and representatives of civil society and the private sector, which gives political binding among States to the process although it is voluntary at present. The overall objective of the SAICM is to achieve the sound management of chemicals, with an ultimate goal to minimize adverse effects on human health and the environment by 2020. Key work areas and activities for implementation of the SAICM are outlined in the 'Global Plan of Action'.

Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR)

PRTR is a clearinghouse of systems developed by several national and regional government organisations to collect and disseminate data on environmental releases and transfers of toxic chemicals from industrial facilities. It was developed in concert with several international organizations. These included (1) the Inter-Organisation Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC), which served as a center for coordination; (2) the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that provided the basis for developing a guidance document for governments considering the establishment of PRTRs at the early stage; (3) the World Health Organisation (WHO), which developed "quick" guides to estimate industrial releases and transfers; and (4) the UNEP, which helped develop guidance for emissions estimation and foster compatibility of PRTR information systems.

This project was financed by the Global Environment Facilities (GEF) with sponsorship from 7 countries with the aim to make regional assessments of damages and threats posed by persistent toxic substances, producing 12 regional reports. These reports would provide guidance and insights to the GEF and UNEP with a science-based rationale for assigning priorities to chemical related environmental issues. The project involved the collection, assembly and evaluation of data through questionnaires from the country level and assessment of levels and impacts of persistent toxic substances across the globe.

UNDP Chemicals Management helps national governments to improve their chemicals management by providing policies and instruments. With the support of funding secured through the GEF and the Multilateral Fund (MLF), UNDP has been supporting national level initiatives that promote the sound management of chemicals. These activities assist countries in reducing and eliminating POPs, phasing-out of ozone-depleting substances, and reducing and preventing the chemical pollution of international waters. Following the adoption of the SAICM in February 2006, UNDP also supports countries in taking up SAICM priorities.

The IPCS was established in 1980 as a cooperative venture between WHO, UNEP and ILO. The two main roles of the IPCS are to establish the scientific basis for the safe use of chemicals and to strengthen national capabilities and capacities for chemical safety. There are four main elements of work:

Evaluation of chemical risks to human health including: (i) preparation and publication of chemicals assessments; (ii) development and harmonization of scientifically sound methods for chemicals assessment; (iii) evaluating the safety of food components, constituents, additives and residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs
Poisons information, prevention and management
Chemicals incidents and emergencies
Capacity building at the country level

Set up in 1960, WHOPES promotes and coordinates the testing and evaluation of pesticides for public health. It functions through the participation of representatives of governments, manufacturers of pesticides and pesticide application equipment, as well as other WHO programmes such as IPCS. The objectives of WHOPES are to:

Facilitate the search for alternative application methods that are safe and cost-effective
Develop & promote policies, strategies and guidelines for the specific application of pesticides for public health use, and assist and monitor their implementation by countries

The HELI is a global effort by WHO and UNEP to assist policy makers of developing countries to take proper actions on environmental threats to health. Its main activities are: (a) to encourage countries to address health and environment linkages as integral to economic development; (b) to support valuation of ecosystem 'services' to human health and well-being; and (c) to promote better access to policy-relevant tools and knowledge about health and environment linkages - the focus of its web portal. 'Toxic hazards' is one of the priority areas the HELI works on. Its website provides agrochemicals, health and environment directory links to web-accessible resources in categories of relevance to policy-making.

The OECD Environment Directorate works as a forum for countries to share their experiences and develop concrete recommendations for the development and implementation of environmental policies in an effective and economically efficient way. The Environment Directorate also provides governments with country performance reviews, data collection, policy analysis, projections and modeling, and the development of common approaches.

On the chemical side, OECD is working to develop and co-ordinate chemical and pesticide related activities on an international basis under the "Chemicals Programme". The main objectives of the Programme are to:

ICCA is the representative body for the global chemical industry. As its mission is to help the global chemical industry improve financial performance and reputation by tackling global issues, ICCA has been promoting and coordinating voluntary chemical industry initiatives. Particularly, in response to increasing public concern about the health and safety of chemical products, it has committed more to health, safety and environmental performance by initiating: (1) the Responsible Care �, (2) High Production Volume (HPV), (3) Long-range Research (LRI), and (4) Global Product Strategy (GPS) initiatives.

Responsible Care, as the industry's global voluntary initiative, particularly draws our interests. Through the sharing of information and a rigorous system of checklists, performance indicators and verification procedures, it enables the industry to demonstrate how it has improved over the years and to develop policies for further improvement. This applies down to the individual country level, with ICCA being responsible for the detailed implementation of the initiative in their countries and monitoring and co-ordination. ICCA's plan is to spread the implementation of Responsible Care as broadly as possible within the chemical and allied industries, and up and down the supply chain.

IFC was established in 1956 as the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. Its mission is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC applies its own "Environmental & Social Standards" to all the projects it finances to minimize their impact on the environment and on affected communities. These standards clearly define IFC's responsibility in supporting project performance and also give direction to IFC officers in reviewing compliance and implementation of private sector projects. The standards also require clients to take great responsibility for managing their projects and for receiving and retaining IFC support. Disclosure of information usually comes prior to the requirements. IFC also has set additional guidelines including:

IFC Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines: Two sets of guidelines are currently used for its projects: (1) the 'Pollution Prevention and Abatement Handbook' (PPAH), official as of July 1998, and (2) a series of environmental, health and safety guidelines that IFC has been working on an ongoing basis. Where no sector specific guideline exists for a particular project, the 'World Bank General Environmental Guidelines' and the 'IFC Occupational Health and Safety Guideline' will be applied.
IFC Exclusion List: The IFC Exclusion List defines the types of projects that IFC does not finance. As far as chemicals concern, any projects involved in "production or trade in pesticides/herbicides subject to international phase outs or bans will not be financed". In addition to IFC's Exclusion List, all financial intermediaries must apply the following exclusions: (1) the "production or trade in products containing PCBs" and (2) the "production or trade in ozone depleting substances subject to international phase out". The same rules apply to all microfinance activities as well as trade finance.

The GEF, established in 1991, helps developing countries fund projects and programs that protect the global environment, with a particular focus on the six focal areas: biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and POPs. As for the ozone layer, the GEF, in partnership with the Montreal Protocol of the Vienna Convention on Ozone Layer Depleting Substances, has funded projects that enable some countries in Eastern Europe and central Asia to phase out their use of ozone destroying chemicals.

The GEF has long been involved in addressing the threats posed by POPs since the late 1990s when the first set of its strategically designed projects was developed. These initial activities allowed it to respond promptly to requests for support from the negotiators of the Stockholm Convention for implementing the Convention. This in turn led to the adoption of the Guidelines by the GEF for POPs-enabling activities in May 2001 upon the adoption of the Convention.

One of the main objectives of the World Bank's Environment Strategy is to improve the quality of life in its client countries. This is, in part, achieved through protecting people's health from environmental risks and pollution to reduce the threat of disease. Particular emphasis is given on the strategy to reduce exposure to toxic substances.

At a global level, the World Bank is an implementing agency of the GEF, the Multilateral Fund for the Montreal Protocol, and the Convention to Combat Desertification and a primary funder of projects in support of the Biodiversity Convention and the Stockholm Convention on POPs. At the project level, in collaboration with GEF and countries, World Bank work includes: (a) reducing the impact of pesticides and other chemicals in its country work programs; (b) developing alternatives to toxic chemicals (e.g. termiticides for China); and (c) safely managing stockpiles of POPs.

JECFA is an international scientific expert committee, jointly administered by the FAO and WHO. Its work includes not only the evaluation of the safety of food additives, but also the evaluation of contaminants, naturally occurring toxicants and residues of veterinary drugs in food. Concerning chemicals, JECFA has continued to develop principles for the safety assessment of chemicals in food. On the back of the sponsorship with the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), it published 'Environmental Health Criteria', a profoundly updated version of JECFA principles for safety assessment of food additives and contaminants. JECFA has also been participating as an expert group member in a joint project initiated by FAO and WHO to update and consolidate principles and methods for risk assessment of chemicals in food since 2001.

The ILO, founded in 1919, is the UN specialized agency that seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights. It formulates international labour standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labour rights. The ILO's Programme on Safety and Health at Work and Environment covers most of the chemical related issues, suggesting a systematic approach to safety in the use of chemicals at work. The chemical-related regulatory frames, guidelines, and codes include: