Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention

Online, 26 to 30 July 2021 (online segment) and Geneva, Switzerland, from 6 to 17 June 2022 (face-to-face segment)

Venue: Online and in Geneva, Switzerland at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG)

Highlights: The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention was held back-to-back with the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention and the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention in two segments: an online segment that took place from 26 to 30 July 2021 to adopt a set of prioritized and time sensitive decisions aimed at continuing the work of the Convention in 2022, and a face-to-face segment held from 6 to 17 June 2022 in Geneva. The theme of the meetings was "Global Agreements for a Healthy Planet: Sound management of chemicals and waste". The online and face-to-face segments were attended by over 160 Parties to the conventions and 1,500 participants.

In addition, the high-level segment of the meetings took place on Wednesday, 1 June 2022, in Stockholm, Sweden. For further information, please see the high-level segment webpage.

Summary of outcomes of the online segment of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention: During the online segment, the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention adopted an interim programme of work and budget of the Convention for 2022, agreed to resume the meeting during a face-to-face segment in Geneva, from 6 to 17 June 2022, and agreed to continue intersessional work under the Convention in 2022, including work of the subsidiary bodies, until further consideration at the face-to-face segments of the meetings of the conferences of the Parties in 2022. The Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention furthermore elected members of the recently established Rotterdam Convention Compliance Committee to allow the Committee to initiate the work according to its mandate.

Summary of outcomes of the face-to-face segment of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention: At its face-to-face segment, the meeting took up the items of the agenda not considered or concluded during the online segment.  Among other things, the Conference of the Parties listed two industrial chemicals in Annex III to the Rotterdam Convention: decabromodiphenyl ether, and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds. The Conference of the Parties also agreed on the work programme for the newly established Compliance Committee for 2022-2023.

On joint issues, the three conferences of the Parties adopted the budgets and programmes of work for 2022-2023, strengthened their mandate for international cooperation with other organizations in support of the recently adopted resolutions by the United Nations Environment Assembly to forge a new international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution, and to establish a science policy panel to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and prevent pollution.

Financial support for the participation of developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition in the 2021-2022 meetings of the conferences of the Parties was provided thanks to the generous financial support provided by the Governments of China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Working languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Meeting documents

  • Report
  • Decisions
  • Working documents
  • Information documents

Call for information and follow-up