Eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention

Geneva, Switzerland, from 1-12 May 2023

Venue: Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG), 17 rue de Varembé, Geneva, Switzerland

Summary of outcomes: The eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (RC COP-11) was held in Geneva from 1-12 May 2023 back-to-back with the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP-16) and the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention (SC COP-11). The theme of the meetings was " Accelerating action: Targets for the sound management of chemicals and waste ".

RC COP-11 adopted 15 decisions, among which, eight are joint to two or three of the conventions, for instance on enhanced cooperation with other bodies, technical assistance, preventing and combating illegal traffic and trade and the clearing-house mechanism. One of the main outcomes of the Rotterdam Convention Conference is the listing of the pesticide terbufos, for which an extremely high hazard to terrestrial organisms had been identified. This listing makes the chemical subject to the Prior Informed Consent procedure, thereby granting Parties to the Convention the right to decide on its future import. The Conference of the Parties also adopted the programme of work of the Compliance Committee for 2024-2025 and agreed on intersessional work to enhance the effectiveness of the Rotterdam Convention by addressing impacts regarding the listing of chemicals in Annex III and its implementation.

Thanks to voluntary contributions from the Governments of China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands, financial assistance was provided to support the participation of developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition to attend the meetings. 

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

Meeting documents

  • Report
  • Decisions
  • Working documents
  • Information documents