Council Decision (EU) 2015/627 of 20 April 2015 on the position to be taken, on behalf of the European Union, at the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants as regards the proposals for amendments to Annexes A, B and C

1 The position to be taken on behalf of the Union at the seventh meeting of the COP to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants shall be, in line with the recommendations of the POP RC, to support: the listing of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in Annex A to the Convention. If required, the Union may accept a ‘specific exemption’ for the production and use of PCP for utility poles and cross-arms, the listing of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCN) in Annexes A and C to the Convention without exemption, the listing of hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD) in Annexes A and C to the Convention without exemption, the deletion of the following specific exemptions and acceptable purposes from the entry on perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and its derivatives in Annex B to the Convention: carpets, leather and apparel, textiles and upholstery, paper and packaging, coatings and coating additives, rubber and plastics, insecticides for the control of red imported fire ants and termites, and insect baits for the control of leaf cutting ants from Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp., the deletion of the specific exemptions for PFOS in metal plating (hard metal plating and decorative metal plating), with the exception of hard metal plating only in closed-loop systems, listed as an ‘acceptable purpose’ in the Convention.

2 Refinement of this position, in light of developments at the seventh meeting of the COP, may be agreed during coordination on the spot.

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.