Introduction
Capacity-building activities and donor invitation
Content of the Protocol
Documents and meetings
International PRTR Coordinating Group
Side events and workshops
Text of the Protocol
Working Group on PRTRs
Content
of the Protocol
Building
upon the work of the PRTR Task Force, established
by
the Meeting of Signatories in Chisinau, Moldova,
the draft
Protocol was first developed by a Working
Group established
prior to the entry into force
of the Aarhus Convention under the
auspices of the
Committee on Environmental Policy, and then
taken
over by a Working Group established by the Meeting
of
the Parties to the Convention. These Working
Groups held a
total of eight sessions between February
2001 and January
2003.
The
legal basis in the Convention can be found in article
5,
paragraph 9, and article 10, paragraph 2. The
Protocol requires
each Party to establish a PRTR
which is
- publicly accessible through Internet, free of charge
- searchable according to separate parameters (facility, pollutant, location, medium, etc.)
- user-friendly in its structure and provide links to other relevant registers,
-
presents standardized, timely data on a structured, computerized database;
- covers releases and transfers of at least 86 pollutants covered by the Protocol, such as greenhouse gases, acid rain pollutants, ozone-depleting substances, heavy metals,
and certain carcinogens, such as dioxins;
- covers releases and transfers from certain types of major point sources
(e.g. thermal power stations, mining and metallurgical industries, chemical plants, waste and waste-
water treatment plants, paper and timber industries);
- accommodates available data on releases from diffuse sources (e.g. transport and agriculture);
- has limited confidentiality provisions; and
- allows for public participation in its development and modification.
The PRTR should be based on a reporting scheme that is:
* mandatory
* annual
* multimedia (air, water, land)
* facility-specific
* pollutant-specific for releases
* pollutant-specific or waste-specific for transfers.
Just as the Convention, the Protocol sets minimum requirements, which means that Parties are free to include additional pollutants and facilities, and the Parties to the
Protocol are required to work towards convergence between PRTR systems.