What are the United Nations Conventions?
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is one of five regional commissions of the United Nations. UNECE is a forum where 55 countries of North America, Western, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia come together to draw up tools of economic cooperation. All UN Member States have observer status and may participate in its work. Over 70 international professional organizations and other non-governmental organizations, which have consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, take part in UNECE activities.
One of the main areas of activity of UNECE is environment for which it draws up conventions and protocols, regulations and standards.
Under the UNECE umbrella, BFRs are respectively targeted by:
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The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) signed in Geneva on 13 November 1979. Under this Convention, BFRs are more specifically addressed by the Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) signed in Aarhus (Denmark) on 24 June 1998.
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The Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters signed in Aarhus on 25 June 1998. The note below will provide background information on UNECE and the instruments mentioned above together with their references to BFRs.
The United Nations POP list of substances in the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP)
Since its adoption in 1979, the LRTAP Convention aims at addressing environmental issues of the UNECE region. Besides laying down the general principles of international cooperation for air pollution abatement, the Convention provides an institutional framework linking science and policy. Its scientific Working Groups (e.g. Working group on strategy and reviews), the Working Group on Effects and the Steering Body of EMEP, and their Task Forces and international centres address the issues that enable the Convention to develop the science-based policies and control measures in its protocols.
The Convention, which entered into force in 1983, has been extended by eight protocols which identify specific obligations or measures to be taken by Parties. One of these eight Protocols is the 1998 Aarhus Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
The 1998 Aarhus Protocol on POPs reviewing Penta-BDE
The Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was adopted on 24 June 1998 in Aarhus, Denmark. It focuses on a list of 16 substances that have been singled out according to agreed risk criteria. The substances comprise eleven pesticides, two industrial chemicals and three by-products/contaminants. The ultimate objective is to eliminate any discharges, emissions and losses of POPs.
The "Working-Group on Strategies and Review" initiated a revision procedure including further assessment of substances not included in the Protocol. Finland and Sweden prepared a draft dossier assessing Pentabromodiphenyl ether (Penta-BDE). This draft dossier concluded that Penta-BDE meets the criteria to be considered as a POP which would lead to inclusion in the Protocol on POPs.
The impact on EU policy
The EU and its Member States signed the Protocol on POPs. So far, 36 of the 48 Parties have signed the LRTAP Convention and only two additional ratifications are needed for the Protocol to enter into force.
On 16 June 2003, the European Commission proposed that the European Union ratify the UNECE Protocol on POPs. At the same time, the European Commission decided to propose a Regulation to fulfill the obligations from the international agreements at home and to enable prompt ratification by the EU.
The Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
On 25 June 1998, UNECE adopted a Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Aarhus (Denmark) at the Fourth Ministerial Conference in the 'Environment for Europe' process. The Aarhus Convention, which links environmental rights and human rights, entered into force on 30 October 2001.
Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in the Kiev Protocol of May 2003
Under the Aarhus Convention, and during the fifth Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe" held in Kiev (Ukraine) on 21 May 2003, 36 countries and the European Community signed a new Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers.
This UN Protocol covers emissions to air, water, land, off-site transfer of pollutants and emissions for manufacture, process or use. For these emissions, specific thresholds were established. Each emission exceeding these emissions’ thresholds will have to be recorded in a register made accessible to the public. "Brominated diphenylethers", referring to PBDEs, are subject to emissions’ threshold of 1 kg per plant per year to respectively water and land.
Impact on EU policy
Following the Directive 96/61 on IPPC, the European Commission adopted a Decision on the implementation of a European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) in 2000. The EPER refers to "brominated diphenylether".
Under this European Commission decision, national governments of all EU Member States are required to maintain inventories of emission data from specified industrial sources and to report emissions from individual facilities to the European Commission. The reported data is to be made accessible in a public register (EPER), which is intended to provide environmental information on major industrial activities.
Every three years, the European Commission will have to publish a report on the inventoried emissions and their individual sources. The first report was published in February 2004.
The adoption of the Protocol will imply amendments to the existing EPER for compliance requirements imposed by International law.
