The export of banned or severely restricted chemicals is regulated by the Regulation (EC) 649/2012, which implements within the European Community the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. The principle of PIC (Prior Informed Consent) requires exporters trading in hazardous substances to obtain the prior informed consent of the authorities in the importing countries before proceeding with the export.
An exporter established in Finland intending to export a chemical listed in Annex I to the Regulation 649/2012 from the EU must make a notification to the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) at least 35 days prior to the first expected date of export. The notifications are renewed each calendar year. The notifications are submitted in ePIC, which is an IT system maintained by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
The EC Regulation 649/2012 replaced the old EC Regulation 689/2008 as from 1 March 2014. Annex I has been updated several times. An up-to-date list of annex I chemicals can be found in ECHA´s webpage.
EU's PIC Regulation and its amendments
Further information
Pirke Suoheimo, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE),
firstname.surname@syke.fi