Introduction
Capacity-building activities and donor invitation
Content of the Protocol
Documents and meetings
Guidance on implementation
International PRTR Coordinating Group
Side events and workshops
Text of the Protocol
Working Group on PRTRs
Kiev Protocol on Pollutant.Release.and Transfer Registers
Adoption and signature of.the Kiev.Protocol
The Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers was adopted at an extra-ordinary meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention on 21 May 2003. The meeting took place in the framework of the fifth 'Environment for Europe' Ministerial.Conference, Kiev, 21-23 May 2003. Thirty-six States and the.European
Community signed the Protocol in Kiev.
As of 31 December 2003, the following 36 States had signed the Protocol: Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
In addition, the European Community has signed the Protocol.
Objective
of the Protocol
The
Protocol is the first legally binding international instrument on pollutant release and transfer registers.
Its objective is "to
enhance public access
to information through the establishment
of coherent,
nationwide pollutant release and transfer registers
(PRTRs)." PRTRs are inventories of pollution from industrial sites and other sources.
Although regulating information
on pollution, rather
than pollution directly, the
Protocol is expected to exert a
significant downward
pressure on levels of pollution, as no
company will
want to be identified as among the biggest
polluters.
Open for accession
All
States can participate in the Protocol, including
those which
not ratified the Convention and those
which are not members of
the Economic Commission
for Europe. It is by design an 'open'
global protocol.
Although the period for signature of the Protocol closed on
31 December 2003, the Protocol is open for accession (from
1 January 2004) by States and regional economic integration
organizations constituted by sovereign States members of
the
United Nations to which their member States have
transferred
competence over matters governed by this
Protocol (articles 24
and 26).
Aarhus Convention Parties urge Protocol's speedy ratification
At the second meeting of the Parties to the Convention, the
Parties made the Almaty Declaration, which urges speedy
ratification and implementation of the Protocol:
"The adoption of the Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers two years ago was a particularly important step forward. Once the Protocol enters into force, it is likely to
contribute to increasing corporate accountability, reduction
pollution and promotign sustainable development. We urge all
Signatories to speed up their internal processes with a view to
ratification of the Protocol by the end of 2007 and to put in
place implementing legislation as well as administrative
procedures and mechanisms for establishing operational
pollutant release and transfer registers in accordance with the
provisions of the Protocol."
Chair of the Meeting of the Parties encourages progress towards ratification
The Chair of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention, Ms. Ms Hanne Inger Bjurstrøm, had encouraged National Focal Points and participants in the Working Group on PRTRs to explore the possibilities for expediting progress towards ratification of the Protocol by their countries. Chairperson Bjurstrøm's letter appears among the informal documents to the fourth meeting of the PRTR Working Group.
Pace of ratification
In
February 2006, Luxembourg ratified the Protocol
and the European Community approved it, a step having
the force of ratification. The European Community's
approval followed adoption of a PRTR Regulation
by the Members States of the European Union which
will bring the provisions of the Protocol to
bear
directly on those States. Switzerland ratified the Protocol in April 2007, to be followed that year by Estonia (through approval) and Germany in August 2007, becoming the third fourth and fifth Parties. Netherlands ratified the Protocol (through approval) in February 2008 and Slovakia (through accession) in February and April 2008, becoming sixth and seventh Parties, respectively. Latvia ratified the Protocol in May 2008 and Norway ratified it in June 2008, becoming the eighth and ninth Parties, respectively.
A number
of European Governments have reported to the Aarhus Convention's Working Group of the Parties that they
are actively working toward ratification of the
Kiev Protocol by the end of 2008 or early 2009.
Eight further ratifications are needed to bring the instrument into force.
Establishment of the Working Group
The
adoption of the Protocol was accompanied by a
resolution
of the Signatures, which inter alia recommended
the
establishment of a Working
Group on PRTRs to prepare
for the
entry into
force of the Protocol under the auspices of
the
Meeting of the Parties to the Convention. The Meeting
of
the Parties confirmed the establishment of the
Working Group
along
the lines indicated in the resolution.
Under its mandate, the
Working Group is charged
with identifying and carrying out
activities that
need to be undertaken pending the entry into
force
of the Protocol, in
particular to prepare for the
implementation of the Protocol
through the preparation
of
guidance documents and the
sharing
of information
and
experience gained.
It further is charged with
reporting
periodically to the
Meeting
of the Parties
to the Convention on
progress made in.respect of
the ratification of
the Protocol and
steps taken
towards its
implementation, and
to prepare for the
first
session of the
Meeting of the Parties to
the
Protocol.