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AGENDA 21, CHAPTER 19



ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT OF TOXIC CHEMICALS INCLUDING PREVENTION OF 
ILLEGAL INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC IN TOXIC AND DANGEROUS PRODUCTS






NOTE:	This is a final, advanced version of a chapter of Agenda 21, as 
adopted by the Plenary in Rio de Janeiro, on June 14, 1992.  
This document will be further edited, translated into the 
official languages, and published by the United Nations for the 
General Assembly this autumn.





........../2



INTRODUCTION

19.1.  A substantial use of chemicals is essential to meet the social and 
economic goals of the world community and today's best practice 
demonstrates that they can be used widely in a cost-effective manner and 
with a high degree of safety.  However, a great deal remains to be done to 
ensure the environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals, within the 
principles of sustainable development and improved quality of life for 
humankind.  Two of the major problems, particularly in developing 
countries, are (a) lack of sufficient scientific information for the 
assessment of risks entailed by the use of a great number of chemicals, and 
(b) lack of resources for assessment of chemicals for which data are at 
hand.

19.2.  Gross chemical contamination, with grave damage to human health, 
genetic structures and reproductive outcomes, and the environment, has in 
recent times been continuing within some of the world's most important 
industrial areas.  Restoration will require major investment and 
development of new techniques.  The long-range effects of pollution, 
extending even to the fundamental chemical and physical processes of the 
Earth's atmosphere and climate, are becoming understood only recently and 
the importance of those effects is becoming recognized only recently as 
well.

19.3.  A considerable number of international bodies are involved in work 
on chemical safety.  In many countries work programmes for the promotion of 
chemical safety are in place.  Such work has international implications, as 
chemical risks do not respect national boundaries.  However, a significant 
strengthening of both national and international efforts is needed to 
achieve an environmentally sound management of chemicals.

19.4.  Six programme areas are proposed:

	(a)	Expanding and accelerating international assessment of chemical 
risks;

	(b)	Harmonization of classification and labelling of chemicals;

	(c)	Information exchange on toxic chemicals and chemical risks;

	(d)	Establishment of risk reduction programmes;

	(e)	Strengthening of national capabilities and capacities for 
management of chemicals;

	(f)	Prevention of illegal international traffic in toxic and 
dangerous products.

In addition, the short final subsection G deals with the enhancement of 
cooperation related to several programme areas.

19.5.  The six programme areas are together dependent for their successful 
implementation on intensive international work and improved coordination of 
current international activities, as well as on the identification and 
application of technical, scientific, educational and financial means, in 
particular for developing countries.  To varying degrees, the programme 
areas involve hazard assessment (based on the intrinsic properties of 
chemicals), risk assessment (including assessment of exposure), risk 
acceptability and risk management.

19.6.  Collaboration on chemical safety between the United Nations 
Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) 
and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the International Programme on 
Chemical Safety (IPCS) should be the nucleus for international cooperation 
on environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals.  All efforts should 
be made to strengthen this programme.  Cooperation with other programmes, 
such as those of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 
(OECD) and the European Communities (EC) and other regional and 
governmental chemical programmes, should be promoted.

19.7.  Increased coordination of United Nations bodies and other 
international organizations involved in chemicals assessment and management 
should be further promoted.  Within the framework of IPCS, an 
intergovernmental meeting, convened by the Executive Director of UNEP, was 
held in London in December 1991 to further explore this matter (see paras. 
19.75 and 19.76).

19.8.  The broadest possible awareness of chemical risks is a prerequisite 
for achieving chemical safety.  The principle of the right of the community 
and of workers to know those risks should be recognized.  However, the 
right to know the identity of hazardous ingredients should be balanced with 
industry's right to protect confidential business information.  (Industry, 
as referred to in this chapter, shall be taken to include large industrial 
enterprises and transnational corporations as well as domestic industries.)  
The industry initiative on responsible care and product stewardship should 
be developed and promoted.  Industry should apply adequate standards of 
operation in all countries in order not to damage human health and the 
environment.  

19.9.  There is international concern that part of the international 
movement of toxic and dangerous products is being carried out in 
contravention of existing national legislation and international 
instruments, to the detriment of the environment and public health of all 
countries, particularly developing countries.

19.10.  In resolution 44/226 of 22 December 1989, the General Assembly 
requested each regional commission, within existing resources, to 
contribute to the prevention of the illegal traffic in toxic and dangerous 
products and wastes by monitoring and making regional assessments of that 
illegal traffic and its environmental and health implications. The Assembly 
also requested the regional commissions to interact among themselves and to 
cooperate with the United Nations Environment Programme, with a view to 
maintaining efficient and coordinated monitoring and assessment of the 
illegal traffic in toxic and dangerous products and wastes.


PROGRAMME AREAS

                  A.  Expanding and accelerating international
	                 assessment of chemical risks

19.11.  Assessing the risks to human health and the environment hazards 
that a chemical may cause is a prerequisite to planning for its safe and 
beneficial use.  Among the approximately 100,000 chemical substances in 
commerce and the thousands of substances of natural origin with which human 
beings come into contact, many appear as pollutants and contaminants in 
food, commercial products and the various environmental media. Fortunately, 
exposure to most chemicals (some 1,500 cover over 95 per cent of total 
world production) is rather limited, as most are used in very small 
amounts.  However, a serious problem is that even for a great number of 
chemicals characterized by high-volume production, crucial data for risk 
assessment are often lacking.  Within the framework of the OECD chemicals 
programme such data are now being generated for a number of chemicals.

19.12.  Risk assessment is resource-intensive.  It could be made 
cost-effective by strengthening international cooperation and better 
coordination, thereby making the best use of available resources and 
avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort.  However, each nation should 
have a critical mass of technical staff with experience in toxicity testing 
and exposure analysis, which are two important components of risk 
assessment.

Objectives

19.13.  The objectives of this programme area are:

	(a)	To strengthen international risk assessment.  Several hundred 
priority chemicals or groups of chemicals, including major pollutants and 
contaminants of global significance, should be assessed by the year 2000, 
using current selection and assessment criteria;

	(b)	To produce guidelines for acceptable exposure for a greater 
number of toxic chemicals, based on peer review and scientific consensus 
distinguishing between health- or environment-based exposure limits and 
those relating to socio-economic factors.

Activities

(a)	Management-related activities

19.14.  Governments, through the cooperation of relevant international 
organizations and industry, where appropriate, should:
	(a)	Strengthen and expand programmes on chemical risk assessment 
within the United Nations system IPCS (UNEP, ILO, WHO) and the Food and 
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with other 
organizations, including the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and 
Development (OECD), based on an agreed approach to data-quality assurance, 
application of assessment criteria, peer review and linkages to risk 
management activities, taking into account the precautionary approach;

	(b)	Promote mechanisms to increase collaboration among Governments, 
industry, academia and relevant non-governmental organizations involved in 
the various aspects of risk assessment of chemicals and related processes, 
in particular the promoting and coordinating of research activities to 
improve understanding of the mechanisms of action of toxic chemicals;

	(c)	Encourage the development of procedures for the exchange by 
countries of their assessment reports on chemicals with other countries for 
use in national chemical assessment programmes.

(b)	Data and information

19.15.  Governments, through the cooperation of relevant international 
organizations and industry, where appropriate, should:

	(a)	Give high priority to hazard assessment of chemicals, that is, 
of their intrinsic properties as the appropriate basis for risk assessment; 

	(b)	Generate data necessary for assessment, building, inter alia, 
on programmes of IPCS (UNEP, WHO, ILO), FAO, OECD and EC and on established 
programmes other regions and Governments.  Industry should participate 
actively.

19.16.  Industry should provide data for substances produced that are 
needed specifically for the assessment of potential risks to human health 
and the environment.  Such data should be made available to relevant 
national competent authorities and international bodies and other 
interested parties involved in hazard and risk assessment, and to the 
greatest possible extent to the public also, taking into account legitimate 
claims of confidentiality.

(c)	International and regional cooperation and coordination

19.17.  Governments, through the cooperation of relevant international 
organizations and industry, where appropriate, should:

	(a)	Develop criteria for priority-setting for chemicals of global 
concern with respect to assessment;

	(b)	Review strategies for exposure assessment and environmental 
monitoring to allow for the best use of available resources, to ensure 
compatibility of data and to encourage coherent national and international 
strategies for that assessment.


Means of implementation

(a)	Financial and cost evaluation

19.18.  Most of the data and methods for chemical risk assessment are 
generated in the developed countries and an expansion and acceleration of 
the assessment work will call for a considerable increase in research and 
safety testing by industry and research institutions.  The cost projections 
address the needs to strengthen the capacities of relevant United Nations 
bodies and are based on current experience in IPCS.  It should be noted 
that there are considerable costs, often not possible to quantify, that are 
not included.  These comprise costs to industry and Governments of 
generating the safety data underlying the assessments and costs to 
Governments of providing background documents and draft assessment 
statements to IPCS, the International Register of Potentially Toxic 
Chemicals (IRPTC) and OECD.  They also include the cost of accelerated work 
in non-United Nations bodies such as OECD and EC.

19.19.  The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual 
cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be 
about $30 million from the international community on grant or concessional 
terms. These are indicative and order of magnitude estimates only and have 
not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, 
including any that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the 
specific strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for 
implementation.

(b)	Scientific and technological means

19.20.  Major research efforts should be launched in order to improve 
methods for assessment of chemicals as work towards a common framework for 
risk assessment and to improve procedures for using toxicological and 
epidemiological data to predict the effects of chemicals on human health 
and the environment, so as to enable decision makers to adopt adequate 
policies and measures to reduce risks posed by chemicals. 

19.21.  Activities include:

	(a)	Strengthening research on safe/safer alternatives to toxic 
chemicals that pose an unreasonable and otherwise unmanageable risk to the 
environment or human health and to those that are toxic, persistent and 
bio-accumulative and that cannot be adequately controlled;

	(b)	Promotion of research on, and validation of, methods 
constituting a replacement for those using test animals (thus reducing the 
use of animals for testing purposes);

	(c)	Promotion of relevant epidemiological studies with a view to 
establishing a cause-and-effect relationship between exposure to chemicals 
and the occurrence of certain diseases;

	(d)	Promotion of ecotoxicological studies with the aim of 
assessing the risks of chemicals to the environment.

(c)	Human resource development

19.22.  International organizations, with the participation of Governments 
and non-governmental organizations, should launch training and education 
projects involving women and children, who are at greatest risk, in order 
to enable countries, and particularly developing countries, to make maximum 
national use of international assessments of chemical risks. 

(d)	Capacity-building

19.23.  International organizations, building on past, present and future 
assessment work, should support countries, particularly developing 
countries, in developing and strengthening risk assessment capabilities at 
national and regional levels to minimize, and as far as possible control 
and prevent, risk in the manufacturing and use of toxic and hazardous 
chemicals.  Technical cooperation and financial support or other 
contributions should be given to activities aimed at expanding and 
accelerating the national and international assessment and control of 
chemical risks to enable the best choice of chemicals.


B.  Harmonization of classification and labelling of chemicals

Basis for action

19.24.  Adequate labelling of chemicals and the dissemination of safety 
data sheets such as ICSCs (International Chemical Safety Cards) and 
similarly written materials, based on assessed hazards to health and 
environment, are the simplest and most efficient way of indicating how to 
handle and use chemicals safely.

19.25.  For the safe transport of dangerous goods, including chemicals, a 
comprehensive scheme elaborated within the United Nations system is in 
current use.  This scheme mainly takes into account the acute hazards of 
chemicals.

19.26.  Globally harmonized hazard classification and labelling systems are 
not yet available to promote the safe use of chemicals, inter alia, at the 
workplace or in the home.  Classification of chemicals can be made for 
different purposes and is a particularly important tool in establishing 
labelling systems.  There is a need to develop harmonized hazard 
classification and labelling systems, building on ongoing work.

Objectives

19.27.  A globally harmonized hazard classification and compatible 
labelling system, including material safety data sheets and easily 
understandable symbols, should be available, if feasible, by the year 2000.

Activities

(a)	Management-related activities

19.28.  Governments, through the cooperation of relevant international 
organizations and industry, where appropriate, should launch a project with 
a view to establishing and elaborating a harmonized classification and 
compatible labelling system for chemicals for use in all United Nations 
official languages including adequate pictograms.  Such a labelling system 
should not lead to the imposition of unjustified trade barriers.  The new 
system should draw on current systems to the greatest extent possible; it 
should be developed in steps and should address the subject of 
compatibility with labels of various applications.

(b)	Data and information

19.29.  International bodies including, inter alia, IPCS (UNEP, ILO, WHO), 
FAO, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations 
Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and OECD, in 
cooperation with regional and national authorities having existing 
classification and labelling and other information-dissemination systems, 
should establish a coordinating group to:

	(a)	Evaluate and, if appropriate, undertake studies of existing 
hazard classification and information systems to establish general 
principles for a globally harmonized system;

	(b)	Develop and implement a work plan for the establishment of a 
globally harmonized hazard classification system.  The plan should include 
a description of the tasks to be completed, deadline for completion and 
assignment of tasks to the participants in the coordinating group; 

	(c)	Elaborate a harmonized hazard classification system;

	(d)	Draft proposals for standardization of hazard communication 
terminology and symbols in order to enhance risk management of chemicals 
and facilitate both international trade and translation of information into 
the end-user's language;

	(e)	Elaborate a harmonized labelling system.


Means of implementation

(a)	Financial and cost evaluation

19.30.  The Conference secretariat has included the technical assistance 
costs related to this programme in estimates provided in programme area E. 
They estimate the average total annual cost (1993-2000) for strengthening 
international organizations to be about $3 million from the international 
community on grant or concessional terms. These are indicative and order of 
magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual 
costs and financial terms, including any that are non-concessional, will 
depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes Governments 
decide upon for implementation.

(b)	Human resource development

19.31.  Governments and institutions and non-governmental organizations, 
with the collaboration of appropriate organizations and programmes of the 
United Nations, should launch training courses and information campaigns to 
facilitate the understanding and use of a new harmonized classification and 
compatible labelling system for chemicals.

(c)  Capacity-building

19.32.  In strengthening national capacities for management of chemicals, 
including development and implementation of, and adaptation to, new 
classification and labelling systems, the creation of trade barriers should 
be avoided and the limited capacities and resources of a large number of 
countries, particularly developing countries, for implementing such 
systems, should be taken into full account.


C.  Information exchange on toxic chemicals and chemical risks

Basis for action

19.33.  The following activities, related to information exchange on the 
benefits as well as the risks associated with the use of chemicals, are 
aimed at enhancing the sound management of toxic chemicals through the 
exchange of scientific, technical, economic and legal information.

19.34.  The London Guidelines for the Exchange of Information on Chemicals 
in International Trade are a set of guidelines adopted by Governments with 
a view to increasing chemical safety through the exchange of information on 
chemicals.  Special provisions have been included in the guidelines with 
regard to the exchange of information on banned and severely restricted 
chemicals.

19.35.  The export to developing countries of chemicals that have been 
banned in producing countries or whose use has been severely restricted in 
some industrialized countries has been the subject of concern, as some 
importing countries lack the ability to ensure safe use, owing to 
inadequate infrastructure for controlling the importation, distribution, 
storage, formulation and disposal of chemicals.

19.36.  In order to address this issue, provisions for Prior Informed 
Consent (PIC) procedures were introduced in 1989 in the London Guidelines 
(UNEP) and in the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use 
of Pesticides (FAO).  In addition a joint FAO/UNEP programme has been 
launched for the operation of the PIC procedures for chemicals, including 
the selection of chemicals to be included in the PIC procedure and 
preparation of PIC decision guidance documents.  The ILO chemicals 
convention calls for communication between exporting and importing 
countries when hazardous chemicals have been prohibited for reasons of 
safety and health at work. Within the General Agreement on Tariffs and 
Trade (GATT) framework, negotiations have been pursued with a view to 
creating a binding instrument on products banned or severely restricted in 
the domestic market.  Further, the GATT Council has agreed, as stated in 
its decision contained in C/M/251, to extend the mandate of the working 
group for a period of three months, to begin from the date of the group's 
next meeting, and has authorized the Chairman to hold consultations on 
timing with respect to convening this meeting.

19.37.  Notwithstanding the importance of the PIC procedure, information 
exchange on all chemicals is necessary.

Objectives

19.38.  The objectives of this programme area are:

	(a)	To promote intensified exchange of information on chemical 
safety, use and emissions among all involved parties;

	(b)	To achieve by the year 2000, as feasible, full participation 
in and implementation of the PIC procedure, including possible mandatory 
applications through legally binding instruments contained in the Amended 
London Guidelines and in the FAO International Code of Conduct, taking into 
account the experience gained within the PIC procedure.

Activities 

(a)	Management-related activities

19.39.  Governments and relevant international organizations with the 
cooperation of industry should:

	(a)	Strengthen national institutions responsible for information 
exchange on toxic chemicals and promote the creation of national centres 
where these centres do not exist;

	(b)	Strengthen international institutions and networks, such as 
IRPTC, responsible for information exchange on toxic chemicals;

	(c)	Establish technical cooperation with, and provide information 
to, other countries, especially those with shortages of technical 
expertise, including training in the interpretation of relevant technical 
data, such as Environmental Health Criteria Documents, Health and Safety 
Guides and International Chemical Safety Cards (published by IPCS); 
monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks of Chemicals to Humans 
(published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)); and 
decision guidance documents (provided through the FAO/UNEP joint programme 
on PIC), as well as those submitted by industry and other sources;

	(d)	Implement the PIC procedures as soon as possible and, in the 
light of experience gained, invite relevant international organizations, 
such as UNEP, GATT, FAO, WHO and others, in their respective area of 
competence to consider working expeditiously towards the conclusion of 
legally binding instruments.


(b)	Data and information

19.40.  Governments and relevant international organizations with the 
cooperation of industry should:

	(a)	Assist in the creation of national chemical information 
systems in developing countries and improve access to existing 
international systems;

	(b)	Improve databases and information systems on toxic chemicals, 
such as emission inventory programmes, through provision of training in the 
use of those systems as well as software, hardware and other facilities;

	(c)	Provide knowledge and information on severely restricted or 
banned chemicals to importing countries to enable them to judge and take 
decisions on whether to import, and how to handle, those chemicals and 
establish joint responsibilities in trade of chemicals between importing 
and exporting countries;

	(d)	Provide data necessary to assess risks to human health and the 
environment of possible alternatives to banned or severely restricted 
chemicals.

19.41.  United Nations organizations should provide, as far as possible, 
all international information material on toxic chemicals in all United 
Nations official languages.

(c)	International and regional cooperation and coordination

19.42.  Governments and relevant international organizations with the 
cooperation of industry should cooperate in establishing, strengthening and 
expanding, as appropriate, the network of designated national authorities 
for exchange of information on chemicals and establish a technical exchange 
programme to produce a core of trained personnel within each participating 
country.


Means of implementation

	Financing and cost evaluation

19.43.  The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual 
cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be 
about $10 million from the international community on grant or concessional 
terms. These are indicative and order of magnitude estimates only and have 
not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, 
including any that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the 
specific strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for 
implementation.


D.  Establishment of risk reduction programmes

Basis for action

19.44.  There are often alternatives to toxic chemicals currently in use.  
Thus, risk reduction can sometimes be achieved by using other chemicals or 
even non-chemical technologies.  The classic example of risk reduction is 
the substitution of harmless or less harmful substances for harmful ones.  
Establishment of pollution prevention procedures and setting standards for 
chemicals in each environmental medium, including food and water, and in 
consumer goods, constitute another example of risk reduction.  In a wider 
context, risk reduction involves broad-based approaches to reducing the 
risks of toxic chemicals, taking into account the entire life cycle of the 
chemicals.  Such approaches could encompass both regulatory and 
non-regulatory measures, such as promotion of the use of cleaner products 
and technologies, pollution prevention procedures and programmes, emission 
inventories, product labelling, use limitations, economic incentives, 
procedures for safe handling and exposure regulations, and the phasing out 
or banning of chemicals that pose unreasonable and otherwise unmanageable 
risks to human health and the environment and of those that are toxic, 
persistent and bio-accumulative and whose use cannot be adequately 
controlled.

19.45.  In the agricultural area, integrated pest management, including the 
use of biological control agents as alternatives to toxic pesticides, is 
one approach to risk reduction.

19.46.  Other areas of risk reduction encompass the prevention of chemical 
accidents, prevention of poisoning by chemicals and the undertaking of 
toxicovigilance and coordination of clean-up and rehabilitation of areas 
damaged by toxic chemicals.

19.47.  The OECD Council has decided that OECD member countries should 
establish or strengthen national risk reduction programmes.  The 
International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) has introduced 
initiatives regarding responsible care and product stewardship aimed at 
reduction of chemical risks.  The Awareness and Preparedness for 
Emergencies at Local Level (APELL) programme of UNEP is designed to assist 
decision makers and technical personnel in improving community awareness of 
hazardous installations and in preparing response plans.  ILO has published 
a Code of Practice on the prevention of major industrial accidents and is 
preparing an international instrument on the prevention of industrial 
disasters for eventual adoption in 1993.

Objectives

19.48.  The objective of the programme area is to eliminate unacceptable or 
unreasonable risks and, to the extent economically feasible, to reduce 
risks posed by toxic chemicals, by employing a broad-based approach 
involving a wide range of risk reduction options and by taking 
precautionary measures derived from a broad-based life-cycle analysis.

Activities

(a)	Management-related activities

19.49.  Governments, through the cooperation of relevant international 
organizations and industry, where appropriate, should:

	(a)	Consider adopting policies based on accepted producer 
liability principles, where appropriate, as well as precautionary, 
anticipatory and life-cycle approaches to chemical management, covering 
manufacturing, trade, transport, use and disposal;

	(b)	Undertake concerted activities to reduce risks for toxic 
chemicals, taking into account the entire life cycle of the chemicals.  
These activities could encompass both regulatory and non-regulatory 
measures, such as promotion of the use of cleaner products and 
technologies; emission inventories; product labelling; use limitations; 
economic incentives; and the phasing out or banning of toxic chemicals that 
pose an unreasonable and otherwise unmanageable risk to the environment or 
human health and those that are toxic, persistent and bio-accumulative and 
whose use cannot be adequately controlled;

	(c)	Adopt policies and regulatory and non-regulatory measures to 
identify, and minimize exposure to, toxic chemicals by replacing them with 
less toxic substitutes and ultimately phasing out the chemicals that pose 
unreasonable and otherwise unmanageable risk to human health and the 
environment and those that are toxic, persistent and bio-accumulative and 
whose use cannot be adequately controlled;

	(d)	Increase efforts to identify national needs for standard 
setting and implementation in the context of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius 
in order to minimize adverse effects of chemicals in food;

	(e)	Develop national policies and adopt the necessary regulatory 
framework for prevention of accidents, preparedness and response, 
inter alia, through land-use planning, permit systems and reporting 
requirements on accidents, and work with the OECD/UNEP international 
directory of regional response centres and the APELL programme;

	(f)	Promote establishment and strengthening, as appropriate, of 
national poison control centres to ensure prompt and adequate diagnosis and 
treatment of poisonings;

	(g)	Reduce overdependence on the use of agricultural chemicals 
through alternative farming practices, integrated pest management and other 
appropriate means;

	(h)	Require manufacturers, importers and others handling toxic 
chemicals to develop, with the cooperation of producers of such chemicals, 
where applicable, emergency response procedures and preparation of on-site 
and off-site emergency response plans;

	(i)	Identify, assess, reduce and minimize, or eliminate as far as 
feasible by environmentally sound disposal practices, risks from storage of 
outdated chemicals.

19.50.  Industry should be encouraged to:

	(a)	Develop an internationally agreed upon code of principles for 
the management of trade in chemicals, recognizing in particular the 
responsibility for making available information on potential risks and 
environmentally sound disposal practices if those chemicals become wastes, 
in cooperation with Governments and relevant international organizations 
and appropriate agencies of the United Nations system;

	(b)	Develop application of a "responsible care" approach by 
producers and manufacturers towards chemical products, taking into account 
the total life cycle of such products;

	(c)	Adopt, on a voluntary basis, community right-to-know 
programmes based on international guidelines, including sharing of 
information on causes of accidental and potential releases and means of 
preventing them, and reporting on annual routine emissions of toxic 
chemicals to the environment in the absence of host country requirements.

(b)	Data and information
19.51.  Governments, through the cooperation of relevant international 
organizations and industry, where appropriate, should:

	(a)	Promote exchange of information on national and regional 
activities to reduce the risks of toxic chemicals;

	(b)	Cooperate in the development of communication guidelines on 
chemical risks at the national level to promote information exchange with 
the public and the understanding of risks.

(c)	International and regional cooperation and coordination

19.52.  Governments, through the cooperation of relevant international 
organizations and industry, where appropriate, should:

	(a)	Collaborate to develop common criteria to determine which 
chemicals are suitable candidates for concerted risk reduction activities;

	(b)	Coordinate concerted risk reduction activities;

	(c)	Develop guidelines and policies for the disclosure by 
manufacturers, importers and others using toxic chemicals of toxicity 
information declaring risks and emergency response arrangements;

	(d)	Encourage large industrial enterprises including transnational 
corporations and other enterprises wherever they operate to introduce 
policies demonstrating the commitment, with reference to the 
environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals, to adopt standards of 
operation equivalent to or not less stringent than those existing in the 
country of origin;

	(e)	Encourage and support the development and adoption by small- 
and medium-sized industries of relevant procedures for risk reduction in 
their activities;

	(f)	Develop regulatory and non-regulatory measures and procedures 
aimed at preventing the export of chemicals that are banned, severely 
restricted, withdrawn or not approved for health or environmental reasons, 
except when such export has received prior written consent from the 
importing country or is otherwise in accordance with the PIC procedure;

	(g)	Encourage national and regional work to harmonize evaluation 
of pesticides;

	(h)	Promote and develop mechanisms for the safe production, 
management and use of dangerous materials, formulating programmes to 
substitute for them safer alternatives, where appropriate;
	(i)	Formalize networks of emergency response centres;

	(j)	Encourage industry, with the help of multilateral cooperation, 
to phase out as appropriate, and dispose of, any banned chemicals that are 
still in stock or in use in an environmentally sound manner, including safe 
reuse, where approved and appropriate.

Means of implementation

(a)	Financial and cost evaluation

19.53.  The Conference secretariat has included most costs related to this 
programme in estimates provided for programme areas A and E. They estimate 
other requirements for training and strengthening the emergency and poison 
control centres to be about $4 million annually from the international 
community on grant or concessional terms. These are indicative and order of 
magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual 
costs and financial terms, including any that are non-concessional, will 
depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes Governments 
decide upon for implementation.

(b)	Scientific and technological means

19.54.  Governments, in cooperation with relevant international 
organizations and programmes, should:

	(a)	Promote technology that would minimize release of, and 
exposure to, toxic chemicals in all countries;

	(b)	Carry out national reviews, as appropriate, of previously 
accepted pesticides whose acceptance was based on criteria now recognized 
as insufficient or outdated and of their possible replacement with other 
pest control methods, particularly in the case of pesticides that are 
toxic, persistent and/or bio-accumulative.


           E.  Strengthening of national capabilities and capacities
		     for management of chemicals

Basis for action

19.55.  Many countries lack national systems to cope with chemical risks.  
Most countries lack scientific means of collecting evidence of misuse and 
of judging the impact of toxic chemicals on the environment, because of the 
difficulties involved in the detection of many problematic chemicals and 
systematically tracking their flow. Significant new uses are among the 
potential hazards to human health and the environment in developing 
countries.  In several countries with systems in place there is an urgent 
need to make those systems more efficient.
19.56.  Basic elements for sound management of chemicals are:  (a) adequate 
legislation, (b) information gathering and dissemination, (c) capacity for 
risk assessment and interpretation, (d) establishment of risk management 
policy, (e) capacity for implementation and enforcement, (f) capacity for 
rehabilitation of contaminated sites and poisoned persons, (g) effective 
education programmes and (h) capacity to respond to emergencies.

19.57.  As management of chemicals takes place within a number of sectors 
related to various national ministries, experience suggests that a 
coordinating mechanism is essential.

Objective

19.58.  By the year 2000, national systems for environmentally sound 
management of chemicals, including legislation and provisions for 
implementation and enforcement, should be in place in all countries to the 
extent possible.

Activities

(a)	Management-related activities

19.59.  Governments, where appropriate and with the collaboration of 
relevant intergovernmental organizations, agencies and programmes of the 
United Nations system, should:

	(a)	Promote and support multidisciplinary approaches to chemical 
safety problems;

	(b)	Consider the need to establish and strengthen, where 
appropriate, a national coordinating mechanism to provide a liaison for all 
parties involved in chemical safety activities (for example, agriculture, 
environment, education, industry, labour, health, transportation, police, 
civil defence, economic affairs, research institutions, and poison control 
centres);

	(c)	Develop institutional mechanisms for the management of 
chemicals, including effective means of enforcement;

	(d)	Establish and develop or strengthen, where appropriate, 
networks of emergency response centres, including poison control centres;

	(e)	Develop national and local capabilities to prepare for and 
respond to accidents by taking into account the UNEP APELL programme and 
similar programmes on accident prevention, preparedness and response, where 
appropriate, including regularly tested and updated emergency plans;

	(f)	Develop, in cooperation with industry, emergency response 
procedures, identifying means and equipment in industries and plants 
necessary to reduce impacts of accidents.

(b)	Data and information

19.60.  Governments should:

	(a)	Direct information campaigns such as programmes providing 
information about chemical stockpiles, environmentally safer alternatives 
and emission inventories that could also be a tool for risk reduction to 
the general public to increase the awareness of problems of chemical 
safety;

	(b)	Establish, in conjunction with IRPTC, national registers and 
databases, including safety information, for chemicals;

	(c)	Generate field monitoring data for toxic chemicals of high 
environmental importance;

	(d)	Cooperate with international organizations, where appropriate, 
to effectively monitor and control the generation, manufacturing, 
distribution, transportation and disposal activities relating to toxic 
chemicals, to foster preventive and precautionary approaches and ensure 
compliance with safety management rules, and provide accurate reporting of 
relevant data.

(c)	International and regional cooperation and coordination

19.61.  Governments, with the cooperation of international organizations, 
where appropriate, should:

	(a)	Prepare guidelines, where not already available, with advice 
and check-lists for enacting legislation in the chemical safety field;

	(b)	Support countries, particularly developing countries, in 
developing and further strengthening national legislation and its 
implementation;

	(c)	Consider adoption of community right-to-know or other public 
information-dissemination programmes, when appropriate, as possible risk 
reduction tools.  Appropriate international organizations, in particular 
UNEP, OECD, the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and other interested 
parties, should consider the possibility of developing a guidance document 
on the establishment of such programmes for use by interested Governments.  
The document should build on existing work on accidents and include new 
guidance on toxic emission inventories and risk communication.  Such 
guidance should include harmonization of requirements, definitions and data 
elements to promote uniformity and allow sharing of data internationally;
	(d)	Build on past, present and future risk assessment work at an 
international level, to support countries, particularly developing 
countries, in developing and strengthening risk assessment capabilities at 
national and regional levels to minimize risk in the manufacturing and use 
of toxic chemicals;

	(e)	Promote implementation of UNEP's APELL programme and, in 
particular, use of an OECD/UNEP international directory of emergency 
response centres;

	(f)	Cooperate with all countries, particularly developing 
countries, in the setting up of an institutional mechanism at the national 
level and the development of appropriate tools for management of chemicals;

	(g)	Arrange information courses at all levels of production and 
use, aimed at staff working on chemical safety issues;

	(h)	Develop mechanisms to make maximum use in countries of 
internationally available information;

	(i)	Invite UNEP to promote principles for accident prevention, 
preparedness and response for Governments, industry and the public, 
building on ILO, OECD and ECE work in this area.


Means of implementation

(a)	Financing and cost evaluation

19.62.  The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual 
cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme in 
developing countries to be about $600 million, including $150 million from 
the international community on grant or concessional terms. These are 
indicative and order of magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed 
by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are 
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and 
programmes Governments decide upon for implementation.

(b)	Scientific and technological means

19.63.  International organizations should:

	(a)	Promote the establishment and strengthening of national 
laboratories to ensure the availability of adequate national control in all 
countries regarding the importation, manufacture and use of chemicals;

	(b)	Promote translation where feasible of internationally prepared 
documents on chemical safety into local languages and support various 
levels of regional activities related to technology transfer and 
information exchange.

(c)	Human resource development

19.64.  International organizations should:

	(a)	Enhance technical training for developing countries in 
relation to risk management of chemicals;

	(b)	Promote and increase support for research activities at the 
local level by providing grants and fellowships for studies at recognized 
research institutions active in disciplines of importance for chemical 
safety programmes.

19.65.  Governments should organize, in collaboration with industry and 
trade unions, training programmes in the management of chemicals, including 
emergency response, targeted at all levels.  In all countries basic 
elements of chemical safety principles should be included in the primary 
education curricula.


          F.  Prevention of illegal international traffic in toxic and
		    dangerous products

19.66.  There is currently no global international agreement on traffic in 
toxic and dangerous products (toxic and dangerous products are those that 
are banned, severely restricted, withdrawn or not approved for use or sale 
by  Governments in order to protect public health and the environment).  
However, there is international concern that illegal international traffic 
in these products is detrimental to public health and the environment, 
particularly in developing countries, as acknowledged by the General 
Assembly in resolutions 42/183 and 44/226.  Illegal traffic refers to 
traffic that is carried out in contravention of a country's laws or 
relevant international legal instruments.  The concern also relates to 
transboundary movements of those products that are not carried out in 
accordance with applicable internationally adopted guidelines and 
principles.  Activities under this programme area are intended to improve 
detection and prevention of the traffic concerned.

19.67.  Further strengthening of international and regional cooperation is 
needed to prevent illegal transboundary movement of toxic and dangerous 
products.  Furthermore, capacity-building at the national level is needed 
to improve monitoring and enforcement capabilities involving recognition of 
the fact that appropriate penalties may need to be imposed under an 
effective enforcement programme.  Other activities envisaged in the present 
chapter (for example, under paragraph 19.39 (d)) will also contribute to 
achieving these objectives.

Objectives

19.68.  The objectives of the programme are:

	(a)	To reinforce national capacities to detect and halt any 
illegal attempt to introduce toxic and dangerous products into the 
territory of any State, in contravention of national legislation and 
relevant international legal instruments;

	(b)	To assist all countries, particularly developing countries, in 
obtaining all appropriate information concerning illegal traffic in toxic 
and dangerous products.

Activities

(a)	Management-related activities

19.69.  Governments, according to their capacities and available resources 
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant 
organizations, as appropriate, should:

	(a)	Adopt, where necessary, and implement legislation to prevent 
the illegal import and export of toxic and dangerous products;

	(b)	Develop appropriate national enforcement programmes to monitor 
compliance with such legislation, and detect and deter violations through 
appropriate penalties.

(b)	Data and information

19.70.  Governments should develop, as appropriate, national alert systems 
to assist in detecting illegal traffic in toxic and dangerous products; 
local communities, and others could be involved in the operation of such a 
system.

19.71.  Governments should cooperate in the exchange of information on 
illegal transboundary movements of toxic and dangerous products and should 
make such information available to appropriate United Nations bodies, such 
as UNEP and the regional commissions.

(c)	International and regional cooperation and coordination

19.72.  Further strengthening of international and regional cooperation is 
needed to prevent illegal transboundary movement of toxic and dangerous 
products.

19.73.  The regional commissions, in cooperation with and relying upon 
expert support and advice from UNEP and other relevant bodies of the United 
Nations, should monitor, on the basis of data and information provided by 
Governments, and on a continuous basis make regional assessments of, the 
illegal traffic in toxic and dangerous products and its environmental, 
economic and health implications, in each region, drawing upon the results 
and experience gained in the joint UNEP/ESCAP preliminary assessment of 
illegal traffic, expected to be completed in August 1992.

19.74.  Governments and international organizations, as appropriate, should 
cooperate with developing countries in strengthening their institutional 
and regulatory capacities in order to prevent illegal import and export of 
toxic and dangerous products.


            G.  Enhancement of international cooperation relating to
			 several of the programme areas

19.75.  A meeting of government-designated experts, held in London in 
December 1991, made recommendations for increased coordination among United 
Nations bodies and other international organizations involved in chemical 
risk assessment and management.  That meeting called for the taking of 
appropriate measures to enhance the role of IPCS and establish an 
intergovernmental forum on chemical risk assessment and management.

19.76.  To further consider the recommendations of the London meeting and 
initiate action on them, as appropriate, the Executive Heads of WHO, ILO 
and UNEP are invited to convene an intergovernmental meeting within one 
year, which could constitute the first meeting of the intergovernmental 
forum.
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