1 
 Proposed Control  of Chemicals  Under Review by Multilateral Environmental 
Agreements   
 
Introduction  
Singapore is a Party to the S tockholm Convention (SC)  on Persistent Organic 
Pollutants (POPs)1 and the R otterdam Convention  (RC) on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) 
Procedure2.  As the Competent Authority (CA) for the implementation of the obligations to the 
Conventions, the National Environment Agency (NEA)  reviews the SC’s and RC’s lists of 
chemicals of concern , and control s them as Hazardous Substances (HS)  under the 
Environmental Protection and Management Act (EPMA ) and EPM (Hazardous Substances) 
(HS) Regulations. This allows NEA to implement the necessary licensing controls to fulfil 
Singapore’s obligations as a Party to the Conventions.  
 
2 The SC and RC have identified 11 new chemicals for review .  Singapore would like to 
notify WTO Members on the proposal  to control these chemicals as HS under the EPMA and 
EPM (HS) Regulations .   
 
 
Proposed Chemicals for Control  
3 The 9th Conference of Parties (COP -9) for SC and RC , to be held from 28 Apr to 10 
May 2019, will be considering the inclusion of the se 11 new chemicals for control .  Should 
these chemicals be included, the Parties’ obligations under the SC and RC for their control 
would have to take effect within 1 year.  The tabulation below shows a  summary of t he 
chemicals for listing as (a) a POP under the Annexes of the S C or (b) as a chemical subject 
to PIC procedure under Annex III of the R C.  More details on  the chemicals are appended in 
the Annex . 
Conventions  Stockholm Convention (S C) Rotterdam Convention  (RC)  
Proposed 
Chemicals  for 
Control  Industrial Chemicals  
(i) Pentadecafluorooctanoic 
acid (PFOA), its salts and 
PFOA -related 
compounds  
(ii) Perfluorohexane 
sulfonic acid 
(PFHxS), its salts 
and PFHxS – 
related compounds  
 Industrial Chemicals  
(i) Benzidine and its 
salts 
(ii) Bis(chloromethyl)
ether  
 Pesticide/Insecticides/
Herbicides  
(i) Acetochlor  
(ii) Paraquat and its 
salts 
(iii) Lambda -
cyhalothrin  
(iv) Atrazine  
(v) Dinoterb  
(vi) Amitraz  
(vii) Hexazinone  
 
                                                           
1 The Stockholm Convention on POPs is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from 
chemicals that persist for long periods of time in the environment, bio -accumulate through the food chain, have the 
potential for long -range transboundary  transport, and have harmful impacts on human health or the environment. 
Further info and text on the Stockholm Convention on POPs can be found on the website: http://chm.pops.int   
2 The Rotterdam Convention on the PIC P rocedure aims 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 their environmental ly sound use. Further info  and text  on the 
Rotterdam Convention on the PIC Procedure can be found on the website: http://www.pic.int    2 
 Parties’ 
Obligations 
under  SC 
and RC  (a) Prohibit the production, 
import, export and use of the 
chemicals  listed in Annex A  of 
SC; 
(b) R estrict the production and 
use of chemicals listed in 
Annex B  of SC ; and  
(c) R educe or eliminate the 
unintentional releases of 
chemicals listed in Annex C  of 
SC 
 Regulate the international trade of the 
chemicals using the PIC procedure where 
the transboun dary movement of the listed 
chemicals in Annex III of RC can only take 
place with the consent of the receiving 
country.  
 
Proposed Regulatory  Control  
4 In preparation for Singapore’s obligation to the SC and RC  when the se 11 new  
chemicals are included in the Annexes  of the Conventions , NEA intends to list these chemicals 
as HS for licensing control under the EPMA and EPM (HS) Regulations.  These chemicals 
have been assessed by the SC and RC to pose environmental and health impacts  which 
warrant controls to be taken for public health reasons.  
5 NEA plans to gazette the control  of these 11 new chemicals  under the EPMA  and EPM 
(HS) Regulations  by June 2019. The licensing of the chemicals will take effect 6 months from 
the date of gazette .  Importers, manufac turers and distributors of these  chemicals and 
products containing these chemicals will then be  required to apply for a HS licence/permit for 
the import, export , sale, store  and use of the chemicals.     
 
 3 
 Annex  
S/N Chemical Name & 
Identity  Category  Additional Information  
(*Please note that the list of CAS numbers is not exhaustive)  Common Uses  
Review under Stockholm Convention  
1 Pentadecafluorooctanoic 
acid (PFOA) (CAS No. 
335-67-1), its salts and 
PFOA -related 
compounds  Industrial  Examples of PFOA salts *: 
 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8 -penta -deca -fluoro -octanoic 
acid, ammonium salt (CAS No. 3825 -26-1) 
 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8 -penta -deca -fluoro -octanoic 
acid, sodium salt (CAS No. 335 -95-5) 
 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8 -penta -deca -fluoro -octanoic 
acid, potassium salt (CAS No. 2395 -00-8) 
 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8 -penta -deca -fluoro -octan oic 
acid, silver salt (CAS No. 335 -93-3) 
 Octanoic acid, 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8 -
pentadecafluoro -, chromium(3+) (CAS No. 68141 -02-6) 
 Ethanaminium, N,N,N -triethyl -, salt with 
pentadecafluorooctanoic acid (1:1) (CAS No. 98241 -25-
9)  PFOA, its salts and 
PFOA -related compounds 
are commonly used in the 
production of 
fluoroelastomers and 
fluoropolymers.  
 PFOA -related compounds 
are commonly used as 
surfactants and surface 
treatment agents in 
textiles, papers and 
paints, firefighting foams.  
PFOA -related compounds refer to any linear or branched 
perfluoroheptyl derivative with the formula C7F15 -X, other than 
PFOA and PFOA salts, and any linear or branched 
perfluorooctyl derivative with the formula C8F17 -X.  
 
Examples of PFOA -related compounds *: 
 Fluorotelomer alcohols 
3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9,10,10,10 -
Heptadecafluordecan -1-ol (CAS No. 678 -39-7) 4 
 S/N Chemical Name & 
Identity  Category  Additional Information  
(*Please note that the list of CAS numbers is not exhaustive)  Common Uses  
 Fluorotelomer acrylates, 8:2 Fluorotelomer acrylate 
(CAS No. 27905 -45-9) 
 Polyfluoroalkyl phosphoric acid diesters, 8:2 
Fluorotelomer phosphate diester  (CAS No. 678 -41-1) 
 Perfluorinated Iodides, Perfluorooctyl iodide (CAS No. 
507-63-1) 
2 Perfluorohexane sulfonic 
acid (PFHxS) (CAS No. 
355-46-4), its salts and 
PFHxS – related 
compounds  Industrial  Examples of PFHxS salts *: 
 Perfluorohexanesulfonate ammonium salt  
(CAS No. 68259 -08-5) 
 Perfluorohexanesulfonate potassium (CAS No. 3871 -99-
6)  PFHxS, its salts and 
PFHxS – related 
compounds are commonly 
used in consumer goods 
such as carpets, leather, 
apparel, textiles, 
firefighting  foam, 
papermaking, printing 
inks, sealants, non -stick 
cookware.  Examples of PFHxS -related compounds *: 
 Perfluorohexane sulfonyl fluoride (CAS No. 423 -50-7) 
 Perfluorohexane sulfonamide (CAS No. 41997 -13-1) 
 Potassium N -ethyl -N-[(tridecafluorohexyl)sulfonyl] -
glycinate (CAS No. 67584 -53-6) 
Review under Rotterdam Convention  
3 Benzidine (CAS No. 92 -
87-5) and its salts  Industrial  Example of Benzidine salts *: 
 Benzidine dihydrochloride (CAS No.  531-85-1) 
  manufacture of dyes, 
pigments, plastic films and 
as a rubber compounding 
agent for the manufacture 
of rubber compounds  
4 Bis(chloromethyl) ether 
(CAS No. 542 -88-1) Industrial  NIL  manufacture of polymers, 
surface treatment of 
vulcanized rubber and 5 
 S/N Chemical Name & 
Identity  Category  Additional Information  
(*Please note that the list of CAS numbers is not exhaustive)  Common Uses  
manufacture of flame 
retardant fabrics  
5 Dinoterb  
(CAS No. 1420 -07-1) Pesticide  NIL  used as herbicide and 
rodenticide  
6 Amitraz  
(CAS No. 33089 -61-1) Pesticide  NIL  used as insecticide and 
acaricide  
7 Lambda -cyhalothrin  
(CAS No. 91465 -08-6) Pesticide  NIL  used as insecticide  
8 Atrazine  
(CAS No. 1912 -24-9) Pesticide  NIL  used as herbicide  
9 Paraquat (CAS No. 
4685 -14-7) and its salts  Pesticide  Examples of Paraquat salts *: 
 Paraquat dichloride (CAS No. 1910 -42-5) 
 Paraquat dichloride hydrate (CAS No. 75365 -73-0) 
 Paraquat methosulfate (CAS No. 2074 -50-2)  used as herbicide  
10 Acetochlor  
(CAS No. 34256 -82-1) Pesticide  NIL  used as herbicide  
11 Hexazinone  
(CAS No. 51235 -04-2) Pesticide  NIL  used as herbicide