On August 30, 2013, the fourth session of the 12th Standing Committee of the National People’ Congress approved two amendments to the Stockholm Convention. China will fulfill its obligations of eliminating or reducing the release of endosulfan and other nine chemicals, which were added into the annexes of the Convention in 2009 and 2011.
At the fourth meeting in 2009, the Conference of the Parties adopted amendments to list an additional nine chemicals into Annex A, B and C: alpha hexachlorocyclohexane; beta hexachlorocyclohexane; chlordecone; hexabromobiphenyl; hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether; lindane; pentachlorobenzene; perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (including its salts), perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride, tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether. During the fifth meeting in 2011, the Conference of the Parties decided to list endosulfan and its related isomers into the Annex.
So far, the amendments made in 2009 have been adopted by 163 state parties while the amendments in 2011 were adopted by 159 State Parties. The Environment and Resources Protection committee of the NPC have agreed to adopt the amendments of the Convention as the elimination or reduction of these chemicals will not have substantial social or economic impact on China.
Of all the 9 chemicals listed in 2009, China continues to produce and use relatively minimal amounts of only one chemical due to a special exemption granted by the Convention. The other 8 chemicals have been fully phased out,3 of them have never been produced or used in China, 2 were phased out during the 1980’s, one has had its pesticide approval cancelled , one has been out of production since 2004 and the final chemical has never been produced or used for crop protection purpose.
