6.3.2003 Official Journal of the European Union L 63/1 | (Acts whose publication is obligatory) REGULATION (EC) No 304/2003 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUCIL of 28 January 2003 concerning the export and import of dangerous chemicals (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175(1), thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (2), Having consulted the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (%), Whereas: 1 Council Regulation (EEC) No 2455/92 of 23 July 1992 concerning the export and import of certain dangerous chemicals (*) establishes, inter alia, a common system of notification and information for exports to third countries of chemicals which are banned or severely restricted in the Community on account of their effects on human health and the environment. The Regulation applies on a mandatory basis the international ‘prior informed consent’ (PIC) procedure under the non-binding provisions of the London Guidelines for the Exchange of Information on Chemicals in International Trade (London Guidelines) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as amended in 1989, and under the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides, as amended in 1990, of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). () O] C 126 E, 28.5.2002, p. 291. () O] C 241, 7.10.2002, p. 50. (®) Opinion of the European Parliament of 24 October 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 19 December 2002. ( O] L 251, 29.8.1992, p. 13. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 300/2002 (O] L 52, 22.2.2002, p- 1). @ On 11 September 1998, the Community signed the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade (the PIC Convention). At the same time, a Resolution on interim arrangements laid down in the Final Act of the Diplomatic Conference was adopted, setting up an interim PIC procedure based on the Convention text. It is appropriate that the Community should act to implement the rules of the Convention, including, until such time as it enters into force, the interim PIC procedure, without in any way weakening the level of protection afforded to the environment and the general public of importing countries under Regulation (EEC) No 2455/92. With the same objective in mind, it is also necessary and appropriate to go further than the provisions of the Convention in certain respects. Article 15(4) of the Convention allows Parties the right to take action that is more stringently protective of human health and the environment than that called for in the Convention, provided that such action is consistent with the provisions of the Convention and is in accordance with international law. As regards the participation of the Community in the Convention, it is essential to have a single contact point for Community interaction with the Secretariat and other Parties to the Convention as well as with other countries. The Commission should act as this contact point. Exports of dangerous chemicals that are banned or severely restricted within the Community should continue to be subject to a common export notification  procedure.  Accordingly,  dangerous chemicals, whether in the form of a substance by itself or in a preparation, which have been banned or severely restricted by the Community as plant protection products, as other forms of pesticides, or as industrial chemicals for use by professional users or by the public, should be subject to similar export notification rules to those applicable to such chemicals