Peiry, Katharina Kummer --- "International Chemicals and Waste Management" [2010] ELECD 617; in Fitzmaurice, Malgosia; Ong, M. David; Merkouris, Panos (eds), "Research Handbook on International Environmental Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Environmental Law

Editor(s): Fitzmaurice, Malgosia; Ong, M. David; Merkouris, Panos

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847201249

Section: Chapter 29

Section Title: International Chemicals and Waste Management

Author(s): Peiry, Katharina Kummer

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

29 International chemicals and waste management*
Katharina Kummer Peiry



Introduction
Management of hazardous chemicals and wastes was one of the first environmental issues to be
addressed by international rules, in response to a general recognition that chemical safety is an
issue that transcends national boundaries. At the European Community and OECD levels, rele-
vant rules were adopted as early as the 1960s and 1970s (Pallemaerts, 2003: 7­9). To date,
around 50 regional and global agreements on chemicals-related issues have reportedly been
adopted, including in areas such as prevention of pollution of the air, watercourses and the oceans
with chemicals, occupational health, and chemical weapons (Gubb and Younes, 2006). At the
global level, three multilateral agreements specifically targeting the management of chemicals
and wastes are currently in operation. All three were elaborated within the framework, or with
the participation, of UNEP, the key organization within the UN system responsible for environ-
mental matters. The Basel Convention on hazardous wastes was adopted in the late 1980s, and
the Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, which address different aspects of chemicals
management, were adopted some ten years later, the issue of chemicals having received less
prominence on the international environmental agenda of the 1980s than toxic wastes.
The management of potentially hazardous chemicals and wastes has now been subject to
international attention and legal regulation for several decades. During this time, the focus of
attention has shifted and the international regimes have evolved accordingly. This chapter
examines this evolution and proposes potential further ...