From September 26 to 30, 2022, the eighteenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC-18) was held in a hybrid mode with its physical venue in Rome, Italy. Three technical assistants from the Regional Chemicals Management Branch, Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific/Stockholm Convention Regional Centre for Capacity Building and the Transfer of Technology in Asia and the Pacific (BCRC China/SCRCAP) attended the meeting virtually as observers, namely Ms. Weiyu Lin, Ms. Anning Wang and Ms. Xing Yin.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Peter Dawson, interim Chair of the Review Committee, with opening remarks delivered by Mr. Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. The meeting was attended by over a hundred participants including 30 members of the Review Committee and other representatives of competent authorities of the national governments of the Parties, inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations. The meeting reviewed eight items of technical work under the Stockholm Convention, with extensive discussion over the risk management evaluations on dechlorane plus and UV-328; the risk profiles for chlorpyrifos, chlorinated paraffins with carbon chain lengths in the range C14–17 and chlorination levels at or exceeding 45% chlorine by weight, and long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids including their salts and related compounds; as well as general discussion about specific exemptions for decabromodiphenyl ether (deca-BDE) and short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), evaluation of current exempted applications of and potential alternatives to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride, and the draft document on long-range environmental transport (LRET).

Eight draft reports were revised and adopted by the end of the meeting, except for the draft risk profile for chlorpyrifos, whose consideration was deferred until further update of information, and the draft document on LRET which is to continue being developed. The meeting also decided that the nineteenth POPRC will tentatively be held in Rome during 9-13 October 2023.