Chemicals provide important benefits to society and play a vital role in the global economy, but they also carry risks for the environment and human health, with greater risks to vulnerable social groups. The growth in chemical production has coincided with a growth in illegal international trade – a particular concern for developing countries and for those with economies in transition. The international community has progressively addressed the challenges in regulating the international trade in chemicals. However, many chemicals remain unregulated by international law.

The goal of this publication is to provide an overview of the knowledge gap and enforcement challenges in the illegal trade of toxic, hazardous and severely restricted chemicals, and areas with non-existing or low areas of chemical regulations.

This report was prepared by UNEP and GRID-Arendal in partnership with IPEN, CIEL, INTERPOL, SAICM, Container Control Programme, and Hej!Support.  

Tags: chemicals toxics and heavy metals environmental crime environment and health