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 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.

KEY POINTS

POPs are potentially dangerous chemical substances which may cross international boundaries, are found often 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 and placing on the market of POPs listed in Annex I, whether on their own, in mixtures or in an article*, is banned. 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 country in question.
EU countries and the European 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 which exhibit characteristics of POPs.
EU countries 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 also has a general advisory and informational role in 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 which 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

EU countries must:

keep inventories of substances listed in Annex III released into 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 which avoid the formation and release of POPs when constructing or modifying facilities.

Waste

Those who produce or hold waste must avoid the waste being contaminated, as far as possible, with substances listed in Annex IV.
In most cases, contaminated waste must be disposed of or recovered* quickly to ensure that the POP content is destroyed or transformed.
EU countries must ensure that the production, collection and transportation of contaminated waste, as well as its storage and treatment, are traceable and carried out in conditions providing protection for the environment and human health.

Planning, monitoring and reporting

EU countries must give the public the opportunity to participate in this process and their implementation plans must be publicly available and shared with the Commission and the ECHA, including information on measures taken at national level to identify and assess sites contaminated by POPs, as appropriate. The Commission must also maintain an implementation plan 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 of the regulation in the environment. EU countries 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 of 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.
The regulation repeals and recasts Regulation (EC) No 850/2004.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 15 July 2019.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

Persistent organic pollutants (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 which during production is given a special shape, surface or design which determines its function to a greater degree than does its chemical composition.

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 which 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)