ABSTRACT
Some historical developments of chemical control legislation are being traced, from specialized laws, such as pesticide acts, to the 1970/1980 generation of generalized legal instruments involving all commercial chemicals. It is then argued that from an environmental protection point of view, a "cradle-to-grave" assessment will henceforth be necessary. Ecological guidelines and indicators for the assessment of the life-cyclewide environmental impact intensity of economic outputs are presented. The international implications of the worldwide trade in pesticides are being considered. As the use of pesticides has invariably transfrontier effects and since unilateral import restrictions due to environmental quality requirements constitute nontariff barriers to trade, a high degree of international harmonization is desirable. This point is also of some importance with a view to the GATT negotiations and the chances for exporting chemicals from developing and postsocialist countries into industrialized hard currency areas in the future. The results of a comprehensive review in 1990/1991 of the regulatory pesticide management regime in 22 countries are presented, comprising countries from Central and Eastern Europe as well as the industrialized Western countries. The review is based upon the returns to a questionnaire which had been designed jointly by the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the Regional Office of the WHO in Copenhagen. The information received was subsequently validated by the competent authorities. Taking all observations into consideration, the framework of an advanced prototype legislative framework for pesticides management is proposed.
