Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade was adopted on 10 September 1998 by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rotterdam , The Netherlands. Its entry into force was determined to be 90 days after deposit of the 50th instrument of ratification. The objectives of the Convention are: to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals in order to protect human health and the environment from potential harm, and to contribute to the environmentally sound use of those hazardous chemicals, by facilitating information exchange about their characteristics, by providing for a national decision-making process on their import and export and by disseminating these decisions to Parties.

The Convention creates legally binding obligations for the implementation of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure. It builds on the existing voluntary PIC procedure, operated by UNEP and FAO since 1989, and takes into account experience gained during the implementation of the voluntary procedure (as set out in the London Guidelines for the Exchange of Information on Chemicals in International Trade and the FAO International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides).