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1.Decides that the following should be included in the work programme of the Open‑ended Working Group for 2014–2015:
(a)Updating of the general technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants and the preparation or updating of specific technical guidelines with regard to the chemicals listed in Annexes A, B and C to the Stockholm Convention by decisions SC-4/10–SC-4/18, SC-5/3 and SC-6/11 of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention, including the following:
(i)Establishment of levels of destruction and irreversible transformation for the chemicals necessary to ensure that when disposed of they do not exhibit the characteristics of persistent organic pollutants specified in paragraph 1 of Annex D to the Stockholm Convention;
(ii)Determination of which disposal methods constitute environmentally sound disposal as referred to in paragraph 1 (d) (ii) of Article 6 of the Stockholm Convention;
(iii)Establishment, as appropriate, of the concentration levels of the chemicals in order to define for them low persistent organic pollutant content as referred to in paragraph 1 (d) (ii) of Article 6 of the Stockholm Convention;
(b)Review of the waste-related aspects of the draft guidance document for the inventory of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and related chemicals listed under the Stockholm Convention (2012), the draft guidance for the inventory of polybrominated diphenyl ethers listed under the Stockholm Convention (2012), the draft guidance on best available techniques and best environmental practices for the use of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and related chemicals listed under the Stockholm Convention (2012) and the draft guidance on the best available techniques and best environmental practices for the recycling and waste disposal of articles containing polybrominated diphenyl ethers listed under the Stockholm Convention (2012);
(c)Consideration of the amendment of the entries in Annex VIII to the Basel Convention for polychlorinated dibenzo-furans and polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins (entry A4110), DDT and other relevant persistent organic pollutants to include concentration levels for those chemicals, after the development of an appropriate framework for establishing de minimisconcentrations;
2.Welcomes the involvement of experts working under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, including members and observers of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee, in the work referred to in paragraph 1 above;
3.Decides to extend the mandate of the small intersessional working group established by paragraph 9 of decision OEWG-I/4 to provide that the group shall monitor and assist in the review and updating, as appropriate, of technical guidelines regarding persistent organic pollutants and in the review the waste-related aspects of the documents referred to in paragraph 1 (b) above, working in particular by electronic means;
4.Welcomes with appreciation the offer by Canada to chair the small intersessional working group until the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, and expresses its appreciation to the lead countries Canada, China and Japan and the lead organizations the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Environment Programme for their financial or in-kind contributions for tasks under this subject matter;
5.Invites the lead countries and lead organizations to take the programme of work set out in the note by the Secretariat on the draft programme of work for the review and updating of the technical guidelines on persistent organic pollutants,1 and also, inter alia, the documents referred to in paragraph 1 (a) of decision BC-10/9 and the draft guidance referred to in paragraph 1(b) above into account in their work referred to in paragraph 1(a) above;
(a)Canada to prepare, in consultation with the small intersessional working group, draft revised general technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants by 28 February 2014, taking into account annex B to the progress report on the implementation of the programme of work for the development, review and updating of technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants2 and the comments received thereon;
(b)Canada to prepare, in consultation with the small intersessional working group, draft revised technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride by 28 February 2014, taking into account annex A to the progress report referred to above and the comments received thereon;
(c)China to prepare, in consultation with the small intersessional working group, draft technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with commercial octabromodiphenyl ether (hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether), commercial pentabromodiphenyl ether (tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether) and hexabromocyclododecane by 28 February 2014;
(d)Japan to prepare, in consultation with the small intersessional working group, draft technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated terphenyls or polybrominated biphenyls including hexabromobiphenyl by 15 April 2014, taking into account annex A to the progress report referred to above and the comments received thereon;
(e)The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to prepare, in consultation with the small intersessional working group, draft technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with the pesticides aldrin, alpha hexachlorocyclohexane, beta hexachlorocyclohexane, chlordane, chlordecone, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, lindane, mirex, pentachlorobenzene, technical endosulfan and its related isomers or toxaphene or with hexachlorobenzene as an industrial chemical by 28 February 2014;
(f)The Chemicals Branch of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics of the United Nations Environment Programme to prepare, in consultation with the small intersessional working group, draft technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with unintentionally produced dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, hexachlorobenzene, pentachlorobenzene or polychlorinated biphenyls by 28 February 2014;
7.Invites parties and others to submit comments to the Secretariat by 15 April 2014 on the drafts referred to in paragraph 6 (b), (c), (e) and (f) above, by 30 April 2014 on the draft referred to in paragraph 6 (a) above and by 30 May 2014 on the draft referred to in paragraph 6 (d) above;
8.Invites the lead countries and lead organizations to prepare, in consultation with the small intersessional working group and taking into account the comments received pursuant to paragraph 7 above, revised draft technical guidelines for consideration by the Open-ended Working Group at its ninth meeting;
9.Invites the small intersessional working group to review the documents referred to in paragraph 1 (b) above and to forward a draft outcome for consideration by the Open-ended Working Group at its ninth meeting and requests the Secretariat to transmit the outcome to the Stockholm Convention Secretariat by 31 October 2014 at the latest;
10.Invites experts to participate in the work under the Stockholm Convention to assess technologies for the destruction and irreversible transformation of persistent organic pollutants, taking into consideration existing guidance, such as the technical guidelines under the Basel Convention;