Within its mandate to improve the implementation of and compliance with paragraph 3 of Article 13 on national reporting, the Committee was requested to undertake a number of activities.
By its decision BC-16/14, the Conference of the Parties mandated the Committee to:
- Classify and, as appropriate, publish information on Parties’ compliance with their annual national reporting obligations for 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 based on the assumptions, criteria and categories adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth meeting and the targets adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its fifteenth meeting;
- Develop recommendations on the revision of the targets referred to in paragraph 10 of decision BC-15/17 for the reports due for 2022 and subsequent years;
- In cooperation, as appropriate, with the Compliance Committee of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, monitor United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework processes with a view to assessing the extent to which Parties with national reporting needs are including actions to address them in their cooperation frameworks, identifying best practices and, on the basis of the assessment, developing recommendations for the consideration of the Conference of the Parties;
- Establish a dialogue with the Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres, the Executive Board of the Special Programme to support institutional strengthening at the national level for implementation of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, the Minamata Convention and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), SAICM and other entities such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the World Bank and other relevant financial institutions on their activities aimed at supporting Parties in the implementation of their obligation to transmit national reports, and develop recommendations for consideration by the Conference of the Parties;
- Consider whether a review of the information provided in tables 4 and 5 of the national reports for the years 2020 and 2021, taking into account relevant experience of Parties, could help identify discrepancies in the information reported by Parties and make recommendations accordingly through consultations with the Open-Ended Working Group.
- Consider elaborating and further assessing measures not included under paragraphs 20 (a) and (b) of the terms of reference of the Committee that may be required when a Party has not submitted its national report for two or more years since the report due in 2016, and report to the Conference of the Parties at its seventeenth meeting