Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

You are here

Export/import of hazardous chemicals

Health Board is a designated national authority according to Article 4 of the Regulation (EU) No 649/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the export and import of hazardous chemicals, which is authorised to perform the stipulated administrative functions and is a designated national authority in the meaning of Article 4 (1) of the Rotterdam Convention.

 

Rotterdam Convention

 

The text of the Rotterdam Convention was adopted on 10 September 1998 by the Ministerial Conference in Rotterdam and entered into force on 24th of February 2004. European Community ratified the Convention on 20th of December 2002 and Estonia accessed on 13th of June 2006.

Health Board is a designated national authority in the meaning of Article 4 (1) of the Rotterdam Convention according to the act of accession with the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (passed in 15th of February 2006) (in Estoninan).

The Rotterdam Convention creates legally binding obligations for the implementation of the Prior Informed Consent procedure (PIC procedure), that permit formally obtain and make known the decisions of importing countries as to weather they wish to receive future shipments of a certain chemical and for ensuring compliance with these decisions by exporting countries.

The objective of the Rotterdam Convention is to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals in order to protect human health, including workers and consumers' health, and the environment from potential harm and contribute to environmentally sound use of these chemicals.

Export and import in the meaning of Rotterdam Convention is the movement of the chemical from one Party to another Party, but exclude mere transit operations and Convention applies to banned or severely restricted chemicals and severely hazardous pesticide formulations.

Every six months the Secretariat issues a PIC Circular, which is a key document in the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention both for the operation of the PIC procedure and as a mechanism for the exchange of information on hazardous chemicals, including import responses, which can also be found here.

Additional Information on the Rotterdam Convention can be found on the PIC website,  including all PIC Circulars issued by the Secretariat.

 

Regulation (EU) no 649/2012 (PIC)

 

The Prior Informed Consent Regulation (PIC, Regulation (EU) 649/2012) administers the import and export of certain hazardous chemicals and places obligations on companies who wish to export these chemicals to non-EU countries. It aims to promote shared responsibility and cooperation in the international trade of hazardous chemicals, and to protect human health and the environment by providing developing countries with information on how to store, transport, use and dispose of hazardous chemicals safely.

This Regulation implements, within the European Union, the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade.

Health Board is a designated national authority for performing administrative functions and administrative acts based on Regulation (EU) No 649/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the export and import of hazardous chemicals.

 

Information to accompany exported chemicals

 

Chemicals that are intended for export shall be subject to the measures on packaging and labeling established in, or pursuant to, Directive 67/548/EEC, Directive 1999/45/EC, Directive 91/414/EEC and Directive 98/8/EC, or any other specific Community legislation so that it wont prejudice to any specific requirements of the importing Party or other country taking into account relevant international standards.

Where appropriate, the expiry date and the production date of chemicals shall be indicated on the label, and if necessary such expiry dates shall be given for different climate zones.

A safety data sheet in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and establishing a European Chemicals Agency shall accompany chemicals when exported.

The information on the label and on the safety data sheet shall as far as practicable is given in the official languages, or in one or more of the principal languages, of the country of destination or of the area of intended use.

 

ePIC

 

ePIC was built to replace the previous submission system, EDEXIM (the European Database for Export and Import of dangerous chemicals).

The main objective of ePIC is to serve as a platform to fulfil obligations and to provide the user with information on the implementation of the PIC Regulation within the European Union related to:

  • export notification for chemicals listed in Annex I of the Regulation,
  • import decisions taken by countries on request for chemicals listed in Part 2 or 3 of Annex I of the Regulation;
  • import decisions made by countries participating in the international PIC procedure under the Convention for chemicals listed in Part 3 of Annex I of the Regulation.
 

PIC Helpdesk in Estonia

 

Contact:

Terviseamet/Health Board
Department of Chemicals Safety
Paldiski mnt 81, 10614 Tallinn
Email: [email protected]

 

PIC in detail