Protecting health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

It aims to protect human health and the environment in the European Union (EU) by eliminating or restricting the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), as defined in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants or the Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
It seeks to minimise, or eliminate where possible, releases of such substances and regulate waste containing or contaminated by them. The regulation particularly takes into account the precautionary principle.
It has been amended several times, most recently by Regulation (EU) 2022/2400, which updates Annexes IV and V to the regulation.

KEY POINTS

POPs are dangerous chemical substances that may cross international boundaries, are often found far from their emission sources, persist in the environment, bioaccumulate* and consequently pose a threat to human health and the environment.

Controls on manufacture, placing on the market* and use

The production, placing on the market and use of POPs listed in Annex I, whether on their own, in mixtures or in an article*, is banned unless certain exemptions specified in the annex apply. Annex I has been amended on a number of occasions by means of delegated acts adopted by the European Commission. The production, placing on the market and use of POPs listed in Annex II is restricted to uses where locally safe, effective and affordable alternatives are not available to the EU Member State in question.
Member States and the Commission must apply appropriate controls to existing substances (such as through listing) and prevent the production, placing on the market and use of any new substances that exhibit characteristics of POPs.
Member States may forward suggestions for listing to the Commission, which, supported by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), decides whether to propose additional substances for listing. The ECHA provides technical and scientific assistance and input to the processes described in the regulation.

Exemptions

Exemptions from these controls are allowed for substances used for laboratory-scale research or as a reference standard, or that are present as an unintentional trace contaminant in mixtures or articles.
Other exemptions apply to articles containing POPs manufactured prior to the regulation taking effect, subject to specific assurances and conditions, including requirements for notification to the Commission and the Stockholm Convention Secretariat.

Release reduction, minimisation and elimination

Member States must:

keep inventories of substances listed in Annex III released into the air, water and land;
communicate their action plans on measures to identify, characterise and minimise the release of substances, including the use of substitute or modified substances;
give priority to alternative processes that avoid the formation and release of POPs when constructing or modifying facilities.

Waste

Those who produce or hold waste must prevent the waste from being contaminated, as far as possible, with substances listed in Annex IV.
In most cases, contaminated waste must be disposed of or recovered* to ensure that the POP content is destroyed or transformed.
Member States must ensure that the production, collection and transportation of contaminated waste, together with its storage and treatment, are traceable and carried out in conditions providing protection for the environment and human health.
Amending Regulation (EU) 2022/2400 updates Annexes IV and V, which determine how waste that contains POPs is treated, and particularly whether it can be recycled or should be destroyed or irreversibly transformed. Annexes IV and V, as amended, include pentachlorophenol, which had been unintentionally omitted when Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 was repealed and recast.
The amending regulation also adds further substances to Annex IV and updates the concentration limit values for some substances in Annexes IV and V:
- perfluorooctanoic acid and its salts and related compounds – used in waterproof textiles and firefighting foams;
- polybrominated diphenyl ethers – flame retardants found in plastics and textiles used in electrical and electronic equipment, vehicles and furniture;
- hexabromocyclododecane – flame retardant found in some plastic and textile waste, especially polystyrene insulation;
- short-chain chlorinated paraffins – flame retardants found in some rubber and plastic waste;
- polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans – substances present as impurities in certain ashes and in other industrial waste;
- dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls – these can be present as impurities in some ashes and industrial oils;
- perfluorohexane sulfonic acid and its salts and related compounds – found in textiles, non-stick cookware and firefighting foams;
- Dicofol – a pesticide, previously used in agriculture.

Planning, monitoring and reporting

Member States must give the public the opportunity to participate in the preparation of their implementation plans, which must be publicly available and shared with the Commission and the ECHA, including information on measures taken at the national level to identify and assess sites contaminated by POPs, as appropriate. The Commission must also maintain an implementation plan for the EU, which is to be reviewed and updated as appropriate.
A monitoring mechanism must be established to gather comparable monitoring data on the presence of substances, as listed in Part A of Annex III to the regulation, in the environment. Member States will also report on the implementation of the regulation.
The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts to amend the list of substances in Annexes I, II and III to this regulation, to adapt them to changes to the list of substances set out in the annexes to the Stockholm Convention or the 1979 Protocol.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 has applied since 15 July 2019.
Amending Regulation (EU) 2022/2400 has applied since 10 June 2023.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

Waste containing POPs (European Commission).

KEY TERMS

Bioaccumulate. Become concentrated inside the bodies of living things.

Placing on the market. Supplying or making available, either in return for payment or free of charge, to a third party. Importing is also considered as placing on the market.

Article. An object that during production is given a special shape, surface or design, which determines its function to a greater degree than its chemical composition does.

Waste recovery. Defined in the waste framework directive as any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials that would otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function, or waste being prepared to fulfil that function, in the plant or in the wider economy.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on persistent organic pollutants (recast) (OJ L 169, 25.6.2019, pp. 45–77).

Successive amendments to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.