IFCS/FSC/09.03
83rd Forum Standing Committee Meeting
24 June 2009
DRAFT Meeting Report
Member: Officer/Government/Organization
Name
President:
Senegal
Mr N.C. Sylla

Vice-Presidents:
Africa:
Mauritius
Mr. R.Seenauth

"Co-worker"
Past SAICM RFP
Asia & Pacific:
"Co-worker"
Nigeria
Mrs A. Olanipekun

Iran
M G. Dehghani
Mr N. Heidari

"Co-worker"
Past SAICM RFP
CEE:
Japan
Mr E Toda

Poland
Dr M. Andrijewski
"Co-worker"
Past SAICM RFP
LAC:
Romania
Ms L. Tirchila
Suriname
Dr J. De Kom
"Co-worker"
Past SAICM RFP
WEOG:
Argentina
Mr G. Entenza
Switzerland
Dr G. Karlaganis
Sweden
Ms J Lissinge Peitz
Past President:
Hungary
Dr Z.Szabo
Africa Region:
Mozambique
Mr O.Remane

Togo
Mr T.K. Essobiyou

China
Ms Wenchao Zang

Republic of Korea
Dr Kyung-Hee Choi

Thailand
Dr Chatri Banchuin
Mrs W. Tangkeo
Mrs A Leenanithigul
Dr A Kongpanich
Lithuania
Mr R- Sabaliauskas
Russian Federation
Dr K. Khamidulina
Brazil
Prof. T. Pitta Cotta

Chile
Emb. C. Maquieira
Mr O. Alvarez


"Co-worker"
Past SAICM RFP
Asia & Pacific:
"Co-workers"
CEE:
LAC:
"Co-worker"
1
Participated
Absent














IFCS/FSC/09.03
Member: Officer/Government/Organization
Name
WEOG:
Austria
Dr T. Jakl
Dr M. Wittman
France
Mr P. Chemin

Germany
Ms M. Luxem-Fritsch

"Co-worker"
IOMC
Chair IOCC:ILO
Switzerland
alternate
"Co-worker"
IOMC Secretariat
NGOs
Industry
ICCA
Public Interest
PAN
CEIL
Labour
ITUC
Science
ISDE
SAICM Secretariat
“observer”
IFCS Secretariat:
Switzerland
Dr S. Al-Tuwaijri
Dr R. Visser
Dr T. Meredith
Ms C. Vickers
Participated






USA or Switzerland
Mr M. Gribble

Philippines
USA
Dr R Quijano
Mr G. Wiser

Norway
Mr B. Erikson
Argentina
Dr L. Corra

Switzerland
Dr M. Gubb

Switzerland
Dr J.A. Stober

2
Absent


IFCS/FSC/09.03
1.0
Opening
The President welcomed FSC members and other participants to the meeting.
2.0
Adoption of Agenda
The President presented the Proposed Annotated Agenda to the Forum Standing Committee
(FSC) for its consideration and adoption. The main focus of the meeting was to consider the
future work and arrangements for IFCS in light of the decision of ICCM not to integrate IFCS
into ICCM as an advisory body as proposed by Forum VI. The FSC adopted the proposed
agenda.
3.0
IFCS Financial Report
The Secretariat referred to the 2009 budget adopted by Forum VI and provided an update on the
IFCS Trust Fund covering administrative operations. She informed the FSC that at this time
there are sufficient funds remaining in the IFCS Trust Fund to operate for approximately 4
months. The IFCS has not received any official pledges for future financial contributions.
The Secretariat called the attention of the FSC to the Statement Of Administrative And
Financial Arrangements Relating To The Provision Of The Secretariat For The
Intergovernmental Forum On Chemical Safety At The Headquarters Of The World Health
Organization (WHO) which includes a section on the terms of the arrangement:
8.
Terms of Arrangements
8.1
Except as otherwise specified, the administrative and financial arrangements
may be modified at any time upon an Exchange of Letters between the Executive
Director, General Management, WHO and the President of the Forum.
8.2
This statement of administration and financial arrangements may be terminated
by WHO or by the President of the Forum subject to three months written notice.
4.0
Future work and organizational arrangements for IFCS
The President introduced the agenda item. ICCM-2 considered the proposal by the Forum to
integrate IFCS into the SAICM structure as an advisory body to the ICCM and took the
decision not to integrate the Forum into the Conference at this time. He noted that the ICCM-2
Decision on establishing an open-ended working group contains the role and functions of the
subsidiary body. The agreed future modalities for considering emerging issues are presented in
an annex to the ICCM-2 Resolution on emerging policy issues.
The President referred to the Forum VI Dakar Resolution on the future of IFCS and noted the
following decisions by the Forum:
4. ..... authorizes the Forum Standing Committee to take any decisions with regard to the
integration of the Forum into the ICCM;
10. Decides that until ICCM integrates the Forum into ICCM as described in this
Resolution, in particular in Paragraph 7 and its annex, the Forum will continue to
operate under its current terms of reference, and the Forum Standing Committee will
continue to operate under its current terms of reference;
12. Invites all Governments, intergovernmental organizations, and non-governmental
organizations, including from the private sector, to provide voluntary financial and inkind resources in support of the IFCS Secretariat in the fulfillment of its functions.
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IFCS/FSC/09.03
The President noted that the role and responsibilities of the FSC are contained in its Terms of
Reference and include guiding the work of the Forum between sessions and assisting with fund
raising. He requested the FSC to consider and advise on the future work and endeavours of the
IFCS in light of the outcome of ICCM-2 and the current funding situation.
The FSC noted that only a session of the Forum itself can modify the IFCS terms of reference
or take a decision on the future of the IFCS. The last session of the Forum, Forum VI, decided
that until ICCM integrates the Forum into ICCM, the Forum and the FSC will continue to
operate under their respective terms of reference. Immediate pending work is the continuing
general follow up on Forum recommendations; no specific tasks have impending deadlines. The
secretariat costs should be given priority with respect to the available funds in the IFCS Trust
Fund.
In view of the financial situation, the FSC agreed to suspend its work for the foreseeable future
and acknowledged that by doing so the result is to also "suspend" the work of the IFCS. It
recognized that the work of the FSC and IFCS may resume in the future if adequate resources
became available. In that case, information would be provided to the President who would
convene an FSC meeting/teleconference to resume work. In the meantime, the FSC members,
IFCS National Focal Points and other participants may carry on IFCS work on an individual
basis. The President noted that he is a member of the ICCM Bureau and this would facilitate
linkages between IFCS and SAICM implementation. In addition linkages can be facilitated
through regional and national focal points.
The FSC advised the President to write to WHO requesting a suspension of the hosting
administrative arrangement. It asked the President to request WHO to continue to host the IFCS
website so that the wealth of information it contains is not lost.
5.0
Meetings
5.1
The FSC may wish to consider scheduling future teleconferences/meetings.
A teleconference will be scheduled if necessary following a response from WHO to the letter of
the President (see section 4.0).
5.2
Invitation to newly designated SAICM Regional Focal Points and/or ICCM Bureau
members to participate in FSC meetings/teleconferences
Item not taken up.
6.0
SAICM – Implementation update
The SAICM Secretariat provided an update on SAICM implementation efforts following
ICCM-2. M. Gubb confirmed that the SAICM Clearinghouse website will include a link to the
IFCS website so that the IFCS documents and other information will also be reachable via the
SAICM portal.
7.0
Other business
FSC members and other participants acknowledged the unique role of IFCS and its valuable
contribution to advancing the sound management of chemicals at the international level and in
countries.
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IFCS/FSC/09.03
E. Toda, Japan, requested that the IFCS National Focal Points be informed on the decision to
“suspend” the work of IFCS noting that the suspension would mean that the annual reporting
commitment was also suspended.
P Chemin, France, invited members and other participants to read and send him comments and
suggestions on the thought starter paper he had submitted on IFCS for the teleconference.
8.0
Closure of the meeting
The President closed the meeting thanking the members and other participants for their valuable
contributions.
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