Prior informed consent

International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides, United Nations Pood and Agriculture Organization, New York, 1985 amended to include provisions for "Prior Informed Consent," 1990. 

The document lists common technical grade pesticides and recommended classihcations together with a listing of active ingredients believed to be obsolete or discontinued for use as pesticides, pesticides subject to the prior informed consent procedure, limitations to trade because of the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) convention (UN 2001), and gaseous or volatile fumigants not classified under these recommendations. 

Rosenthal JP, Politics, cultute, governance in the development of prior informed consent in indigenous communities, Curr Anthropol4S7. 3— A2, 2006. 

Chemicals subject to the Prior Informed Consent Procedure International right-to-know... 

Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, and the Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. 

For example, under the Stockholm Convention, only four Asian country parties have prepared national implementation plans, so far. With respect to the Rotterdam Convention, only seventeen countries have notified the import responses under the prior informed consent schemes of the Rotterdam Convention. Likewise, just twenty-one countries reported on the trade of hazardous wastes under the Basel Convention as of 2006. Indeed, Asian countries need to take actions necessary to implement relevant chemical related conventions at the national level. 

IFCS in 2000 also recognised the role of information exchange in relation to toxic chemicals in the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. It encouraged its implementation. The Convention went into force in 2004. It requires information prior to export of some 30 chemicals that are listed, most of these with very little circulation. Additions of live chemicals have been very controversial. At the Conference of the Parties in 2008, agreement was reached to add tributyl tin compounds but not concerning chrysotile asbestos and endosulfane. The IFCS in 2000 also recognised the importance of providing all relevant parties with safety information consistent with the safety data sheets. 

Access to materials should follow a negotiation between parties, which would lead to a formal access agreement between the parties involved (Article 15.4). But before any access can be obtained to genetic resources, there is the need for prior informed consent by the designated state regulatory authority (Article... 

The matter of prior informed consent is critical at this point, since the unauthorised collection of samples undermines the position that developing countries are attempting to establish and places the corporate entity in gross violation of both the intent of the CBD and possibly the laws of a particular country. However, such private transactions still occur. At the same time, governments may feel that the threat to genetic resources necessitates that collection be very strictly controlled, thereby possibly having a detrimental effect on the investment in natural product research in their country. 

There is a law in Peru that protects traditional knowledge and establishes the requirement for prior informed consent and anticipates the realisation of access contracts. 

In practice, compliance with the published protocols and procedures is not simple and straightforward. Prior informed consent (PIC) is required for both an Academic Research Agreement (ARA) and a Commercial Research Agreement (CRA). However, in the case of the ARA, the application may be processed and the ARA may be executed without the PIC certificate, provided the certificate is acquired by the principal investigator/collector prior to the actual bioprospecting activity. 

The application should include a research proposal stating the purpose, source of funds, the duration of the programme, a list of biological and genetic materials and the amount to be acquired. A copy of the proposal must be submitted to the recognised head of the local or indigenous cultural community or communities that could be affected in order to secure the prior informed consent (PIC) certificate. 

Prior informed consent procedures should include the national authority and the indigenous group providing the genetic resources or the traditional knowledge. At the same time, those requesting access to genetic resources and... 

Sign and ratify The. Rotterdam Convention on the. Prior Informed Consent (PIC), and ILO Convention 184 regarding Safety and I lealth in Agriculture ... 

Current restrictions List II for inclusion in the EU Dangerous Substances Directive To be considered for inclusion under the UNEP Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent Chemical (PIC) Banned in five countries Use restricted in four . ... 

Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent, UNEP/ FAO http / /wwwpic.int/en/Table5.htm... 

In addition, in the field of the sound management of chemicals, two very recent treaties - the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure, which entered into force on 24 February 2004, and the Stockholm POPs Convention, which entered into force on 17 May 2004 - have attracted the interest of large numbers of States not Party to... 

Rotterdam Convention This improves the exchange of information and the observance of inport decisions in international trade with certain hazardous chemicals. The convention is internationally known as Prior Informed Consent (PIC). 

Rotterdam Convention means the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade. 

The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade was adopted on 10 September 1998. The Convention was ratified by 50 countries (Parties) and entered into force (e.i.f.) on February 24, 2004. Presently, it provides a legal basis for the implementing of the existing PIC procedure that was operated on voluntary basis since 1989. UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) jointly serve as the secretariat for the Convention. 

NOTE AGR - Access to Genetic Resources ESB - Equitable Sharing of Benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources CTU - Customary or Traditional Use of genetic resources IPR - Intellectual Property Rights NRM Bio - Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity Conservation PIC - Prior Informed Consent... 

The chemical industry spans many countries of the world and chemicals are used worldwide. Despite the plethora of regulations on chemicals, many countries do not have adequate legislation or the necessary infrastructure to ensure their safe use. To help overcome this situation there is an international initiative for wide sharing of information and to provide support through training programmes and technical expertise. The Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade, adopted in 1998, is an example. Other international agreements worthy of mention... 

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