The chemical conventions or multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) help countries to work together to address the urgent threat of global chemical contamination of humans, wildlife and the environment. There are a number of international and regional chemical conventions including:
- Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants 2001
- Basel Convention on Control of the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their disposal 1989
- Waigani Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movements and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region 1995
- Bamako Convention on the on ban of the import into Africa and the control of transboundary movement and management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa 1990
- Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade 1998
- International Labour Organisation Convention 170, Convention Concerning Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work, 1990 (ILO C 170)
- Globally Harmonised System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)
For more information on the chemical conventions including their text, a description, obligations and resource material, visit NTN’s Chemical Conventions Handbook