As mandated in the resolution on arrangements in the interim period adopted by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the intergovernmental negotiating committee on mercury established pursuant to Governing Council decision 25/5 will meet during the period between the date on which the Convention was opened for signature and the date of the opening of the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention as may be necessary to facilitate the rapid entry into force of the Convention and its effective implementation upon its entry into force.

Following its sixth session in November 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand, the intergovernmental negotiating committee on mercury held its the seventh session from 10 to 15 March 2016 at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center at the Dead Sea in Jordan, with regional consultations on 9 March 2016.