Governance & Policy
Rotterdam Convention
Definition
The Rotterdam Convention (adopted 1998, in force 2004) promotes shared responsibility in the international trade of hazardous chemicals. Its prior informed consent (PIC) procedure requires that chemicals listed in its Annex III — severely hazardous pesticide formulations and banned or severely restricted industrial chemicals — be exported only with the importing country's explicit consent, and that export notifications accompany shipments.
References
Source imported for editorial provenance.
This reference provides supporting context for how “Rotterdam Convention” is defined and used.
Overview
How it is used
Parties operate designated national authorities and import responses; the convention works in a family with the Basel (wastes) and Stockholm (POPs) conventions, sharing a secretariat.
Why it matters
Rotterdam is the transparency backbone of the global chemicals trade — modest in mechanism, powerful in what it reveals about who ships what, where.