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National Implementation Plan – Stockholm Conventionen on Persistent Organic Pollutants

1 Introduction

• 1.1 Denmark's plan for implementation of the Stockholm Convention
  • 1.1.1 Background and purpose
  • 1.1.2 Elaboration and adoption of the implementation plan
  • 1.1.3 Structure of the implementation plan
• 1.2 The Stockholm Convention
• 1.3 The POP substances

1.1 Denmark’s plan for implementation of the Stockholm Convention

1.1.1 Background and purpose

According to the Convention, all Parties must develop and seek to implement a plan for the implementation of their obligations according to the Convention and send it to the Conference of the Parties, in practice the secretariat, within two years from the date of the entry into force of the Convention for the Party in question

Denmark’s instrument of ratification was deposited on 17 December 2003 with the General Secretary of the United Nations. In connection with the deposition a territorial declaration was made, stating that the Convention until further notice will not cover the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Convention is notified in Denmark by Act no. 29 of 14 October 2004 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since the Convention did not enter into force until after the Danish ratification, the Convention entered into force for Denmark on the date of the entry into force of the Convention. Consequently Denmark must finalise its implementation plan by 17 May 2006.

1.1.2 Elaboration and adoption of the implementation plan

This implementation plan has been elaborated by the Ministry of the Environment, the Environmental Protection Agency. A group of stakeholders, a monitoring group, has been involved including the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, the Confederation of Danish Industries, the Ecological Council, Greenpeace, the Women’s Council in Denmark and the World Wildlife Fund.

The elaboration has been guided and coordinated by a steering group from the Environmental Protection Agency with representatives from the units with expertise in the substance matter. A consultancy firm has assisted the elaboration.

The task was carried out in the following steps:

• Elaboration of introduction and country baseline;
• Elaboration of a ”gap analysis“;
• Compilation of strategy elements and action plans and finalisation of draft implementation plan;
• Hearing amongst a wide group of stakeholders;
• Finalisation of the final implementation plan.

The consultant has drafted the first drafts for introduction, country baseline, and gap analysis – an analysis of possible shortcomings in Danish legislation and initiatives. The gap analysis has been elaborated to assess the need for further measures in order for Denmark to live up to its obligations under the Convention and the parts of the EU regulation that implement the Convention, including reporting requirements regarding polyaromatic hydrocarbons, PAH. The draft was discussed by the steering group and the monitoring group.

The deliberations and conclusions of this process have constituted the basis for elaboration of a draft implementation plan, including strategic elements and action plans. This draft was examined and adjusted by the steering group from the Environmental Protection Agency and subsequently sent out to a wide hearing of stakeholders. After the hearing, the final implementation plan was finalised.

1.1.3 Structure of the implementation plan

The implementation plan follows the structure suggested in the ”Interim guidance for developing a national implementation plan for the Stockholm Convention”.

After this short introduction, chapter 2 presents a country baseline, describing the situation in Denmark. The description is introduced by a short country profile, followed by a description of the institutional, political and regulatory frameworks. This section describes who does what, and how POPs issues are connected to other priorities in Danish environmental policy. In the subsequent sections other international obligations and the existing regulation regarding POP substances are described, followed by a description of the POP situation in Denmark.

Emissions and the prevalence of POP substances in the environment, foods, animal feed, waste and contaminated sites are described. Activities undertaken regarding monitoring of the POP substances and research into their effects on humans and the environment are also described. Vulnerable groups are mentioned in a short section.

Chapter 3 goes over the strategies and action plan elements for the fulfilment of Denmark’s obligations under the Convention. For dioxin and other unintentionally produced POP substances a separate action plan has been elaborated, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention. Due to the size of the action plan it is placed in a separate annex to the plan of implementation, annex 1.

1.2 The Stockholm Convention

The Stockholm Convention was adopted in May 2001 and the Convention entered into force on 17 May 2004.^[1] The purpose of the Convention is to protect the environment and human health from persistent organic pollutants.

The Stockholm Convention obliges the Parties to ban and/or take legal and administrative measures  necessary to eliminate production, import/export and use of the substances listed in annex A to the Convention, which encompasses the 9 POP substances aldrin, chlordan, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex, toxaphene, hexachlrobenzene (HCB) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). The Parties must furthermore limit production and use of the substances listed in annex B, which currently only covers DDT.

Furthermore, Parties must take measures to reduce – an if possible eliminate – emissions from unintentional production listed in annex C, which covers polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDF), PCB and HCB. The substances are produced unintentionally in connection with a number of chemical and thermal processes. In every-day terms polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofurans are often called ”dioxin and furans” or just ”dioxin”. In the remainder of this implementation plan, the term ”dioxin“ will be used for both groups of substances, since in practice they are denoted together

The Convention also requests, that stockpiles that contain or are made up of POP substances be identified and handled in a safe manner.

1.3 The POP substances

The POP substances are characterized by being difficult to degrade, by spreading in the environment and accumulating in humans and animals, and by having a number of undesirable effects on organisms.

Twelve POPs are regulated under the Stockholm Convention, but there is a number of other substances with the same characteristics. Some of these are covered by other international agreements or are being assessed with a view of future international regulation.

The substances listed in the Stockholm Convention are divided into three groups:

Annex A and B substances have all, except for PCB, been used as pesticides, but HCB and mirex have also been used as industrial chemicals.

Other POP substances

There is a number of POP substances apart form the 12 substances covered by the Stockholm Convention. Under the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) a protocol was adopted in 1998 on the restriction of use and emission of a number of POP substances. The POP Protocol is mentioned in section 2.2.3. The POP Protocol covers 4 substances in addition to those covered by the Stockholm Convention: polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), chlordecone, hexabromobiphenyl and hexachlorocyclohexan (HCH). These substances are also covered by the EU Regulation on POPs, and several of them are being assessed under the Stockholm Convention for possible future listing in the Stockholm Convention annexes. This is the case for HCH (lindane), chlorodecone, hexabromobiphenyl, PFOS and pentaBDE.

Footnotes

^[1] This date is 90 days after 50 states or regional organisations became parties to the Convention.

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Version 1.0 June 2006, © Danish Environmental Protection Agency