World Trade Organization WT/CTE/COM/14 29 April 2009 (09-2097) Committee on Trade and Environment Original: English request for observer status by the Rotterdam Convention The following communication addressed to the Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) has been received from the Co-Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention requesting observer status in the CTE. _______________ I have the honour to refer to the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, which was adopted by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on 10 September 1998 and entered into force on 24 February 2004. At its fourth session of the Conference of the Parties held in Rome, on 27-31 October 2008, the Conference of the Parties requested the Secretariat, in decision RC-4/10, to follow up on the request for an obs