1. European Regional Experience: The PRTR Protocol of the Aarhus Convention
Michael Stanley-Jones
Environmental Information Management Officer
Aarhus Convention Secretariat
Environment and Human Settlements Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Regional Workshop and Pilot Project on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers Penang City, Malaysia, August 2004
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

2. THE AARHUS CONVENTION
UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
25 June Adopted at the 4th Ministerial “Environment for Europe” Conference, Aarhus, Denmark.
Signed by 39 countries and the European Community
30 Oct Entry into force of the Convention
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
recently described the drafting as having global significance
as a 'giant step forward in the development of international law in this field'
it is the first legally binding UN instrument to address the issues covered by what we might call environmental democracy in a detailed and systematic way
Secretary General: Rio +10 meeting: examine the global relevance of the Convetion prinicples
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

3. GLOBAL RELEVANCE OF THE CONVENTION
"… The adoption of the Aarhus Convention was a giant step forward in the development of international law in this field. ... Although regional in scope, the significance of the Aarhus Convention is global. It is by far the most impressive elaboration of principle 10 of the Rio Declaration... As such it is the most ambitious venture in the area of ‘environmental democracy’ so far undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations...."
Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
recently described the drafting as having global significance
as a 'giant step forward in the development of international law in this field'
it is the first legally binding UN instrument to address the issues covered by what we might call environmental democracy in a detailed and systematic way
Secretary General: Rio +10 meeting: examine the global relevance of the Convetion prinicples
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

4. STATUS OF RATIFICATION
TOTAL (as of July 30, 2004): 29 PARTIES
Albania
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
France
Georgia
Hungary
Italy
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Moldova
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovenia
Tajikistan
The former Yugoslav
Rep. of Macedonia
Turkmenistan
Ukraine

5. Procedural rights to information, participation, justice
GENERAL FEATURES
Recognition of citizens' rights
Procedural rights to information, participation, justice
 Substantive rights of present and future generations to live in an environment adequate to health and wellbeing
Rights based approach
- rights to information, participation, justice
- right to “an environment adequate to ... health and wellbeing”
Enforce their rights in courts
Public:
any natural or legal person, without distinction on basis of citizenship, residency, etc
Public authority:
- all sectors and levels of government
- inclusion of private environmental bodies under control of governmental bodies
- exclusion of bodies acting in legislative or judicial capacity
Implications EU signature
Compliance mechanism: 1stMoP
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

6. GENERAL FEATURES
European Community to become a Party as “Regional economic integration organization”
 EU institutions to be covered
Rights to be enjoyed irrespective of citizenship, nationality, domicile etc
Open to non-ECE countries
Rights based approach
- rights to information, participation, justice
- right to “an environment adequate to ... health and wellbeing”
Enforce their rights in courts
Public:
any natural or legal person, without distinction on basis of citizenship, residency, etc
Public authority:
- all sectors and levels of government
- inclusion of private environmental bodies under control of governmental bodies
- exclusion of bodies acting in legislative or judicial capacity
Implications EU signature
Compliance mechanism: 1stMoP
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

7. PROTOCOL ON POLLUTANT RELEASE AND TRANSFER REGISTERS
to the
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

8. LEGAL BASIS OF PRTR PROTOCOL
Legal basis: article 5.9 and 10.2 (e) and (i) of the Aarhus Convention, requiring each Party
“to take steps to establish progressively ... a coherent, nationwide system of pollution inventories or registers on a structured, computerized and publicly accessible database compiled through standardized reporting.” [art. 5.9]
… taking into account international processes and developments, including the elaboration of an appropriate instrument concerning pollution release and transfer registers or inventories ….” [10.2(i)]

9. DEVELOPMENT OF PRTR PROTOCOL
Sep 2000: Committee on Environmental Policy (CEP) establishes Working Group on PRTR to develop legally binding instrument for adoption in Kiev
Feb 2001 – Jan 2003: Negotiations over draft protocol take place in PRTR Working Group
21 May 2003: Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers of the Aarhus Convention adopted and signed by 36 countries and the EC at 5th Ministerial ‘Environment for Europe’ conference

10. PRTR PROTOCOL
Requires Parties to establish a publicly accessible national PRTR maintained through mandatory reporting of certain listed pollutants released or transferred from certain listed activities
Open to all UN Member States to become Parties, including non-Parties to the Convention
Regional economic integration organizations with competence can become Members
Open for accession as from 1 January 2004

11. CORE ELEMENTS OF PROTOCOL
Obligation on each Party to establish a PRTR which is:
publicly accessible and user-friendly
presents standardized, timely data on a structured, computerised database
covers releases and transfers from certain major point sources
begins to include some diffuse sources (e.g. transport, agriculture, small- and medium-sized enterprises)
has limited confidentiality provisions
allows public participation in its development and modification

12. CORE ELEMENTS OF PROTOCOL (2)
and is based on system of reporting which is:
mandatory
annual
multimedia (air, water and land)    
facility-specific (point sources)
pollutant-specific for releases
pollutant-specific or waste-specific for transfers

13. CORE ELEMENTS OF PROTOCOL
Obligation on each Party to establish a PRTR which is:
publicly accessible and user-friendly
presents standardized, timely data on a structured, computerised database
covers releases and transfers from certain major point sources
begins to include some diffuse sources (e.g. transport, agriculture, small- and medium-sized enterprises)
has limited confidentiality provisions
allows public participation in its development and modification

14. FACILITIES COVERED Facilities covered (annex I) include:
Thermal power stations and refineries
Mining and metallurgical industries
Chemical plants
Waste and waste-water management plants
Paper and timber industries
Intensive livestock production and aquaculture
Food and beverage production

15. POLLUTANTS Pollutants covered (annex II) include: Greenhouse gases
Acid rain pollutants
Ozone-depleting substances
Heavy metals
Certain carcinogens, such as dioxins
TOTAL: 86 pollutants

16. POLLUTANTS (2)
National registers may include additional facilities and substances
Protocol provides a floor not a ceiling
Proposed EU “European PRTR” may cover additional pollutants

17. PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY Public access is fundamental:
Objective of Protocol: “… to enhance public access to information through the establishment of coherent, integrated, nationwide PRTRs …”
PRTRs should:
Be accessible through the Internet free of charge
Be searchable according to the separate parameters (facility, pollutant, location, medium etc)
Provide links to other PRTRs and to other relevant registers
Provide for limited confidentiality

18. SOME GENERAL FEATURES Implies obligations for private sector
Parties required to work towards convergence between PRTR systems (e.g. waste-specific vs pollutant-specific reporting of transfers, use-based vs release-based thresholds)
Co-ordination with other international processes (e.g. IOMC/IFCS, OECD, UNEP, UNITAR, EU, NACEC etc)
Open to non-Parties to Convention and non-ECE States
Own governing body and compliance mechanism

19. NEXT STEPS FOR PROTOCOL
New Working Group on PRTRs established in Kiev to prepare for entry into force
Setting up the ‘institutional architecture’: rules of procedure, compliance mechanism, financial arrangements etc
Preparation of technical guidance on implementation
Ratification by 2006?

20. POSSIBLE FURTURE STEPS FOR PROTOCOL
Next-step issues:
Storage
On-site transfers
Issues discussed but not agreed upon:
Products
Water, energy and resource use
Radioactive substances
Radiation, noise, genetically modified organisms…

21. FOR INFORMATION ON EUROPEAN PRTR DEVELOPMENTS
SEE THE RESOURCE DIRECTORY OF
AARHUS CLEARINGHOUSE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DEMOCRACY

23. Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers

25. MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE AARHUS CONVENTION WEBSITE:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change