Initiated in 2009, the development of a global legally binding instrument on mercury has been on a constant progress since then. Thus, five sessions of the intergovernmental negotiating committee have been hold in Stockholm, Chiba, Nairobi, Punta del Este and Geneva, preceded by two Open Ended Working Group. As a result, the text of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which was agreed upon at the fifth session of the INC in January 2013, was adopted at the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Kumamoto, Japan on 10 October 2013 and opened for signature.

INC6 met from 3 to 7 November 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand and was preceded by regional consultations on 2 November 2014.

At its meeting on 20 April 2015, the Bureau of the intergovernmental negotiating committee confirmed the dates of the INC's seventh session (INC7), scheduled to be held from 7 to 11 March 2016 in Jordan, with regional consultations on 6 March 2016.