AARHUS CONVENTION

Introduction
Capacity-building 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


Working Group on PRTRs paves way for Protocol's entry into force

The fifth meeting of the Working Group on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers was held on 22-24 October 2007 in Geneva, to further preparations for the entry into force of the Kiev Protocol on PRTRs. The Working Group reviewed the revised draft decisions on rules of procedure, a compliance mechanism and financial arrangements, and give a first reading to draft decisions on establishment of an ad hoc working group of the Parties, reporting requirements and a work programme under the Protocol.

Delegates discussed the timing of the first session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol, in light of the progress expected to be made toward ratification of the instrument by the end of 2007.

Mr. Bob Boyce (United Kingdom) was elected to serve as a second Vice-Chair.

Official documents of the meeting are available in English, French and Russian. The report of the meeting is available in English and soon will be made available in French and Russian.


The fourth meeting of the Working Group on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers was held on 14-16 February 2007 in Geneva, to further preparations for the entry into force of the Kiev Protocol on PRTRs to the Aarhus Convention. The Working Group reviewed draft decisions on rules of procedure, a compliance mechanism and financial arrangements, as well as discussed the establishment of subsidiary bodies, capacity building and a reporting mechanism under the Protocol. It also adopted a guidance to implementation of the Protocol.

Official documents of the meeting are available English, French and Russian.

Contact Group

Earlier, the Working Group had established a Contact Group to review draft decisions on rules of procedure and a compliance review mechanism to the instrument, and reviewed options for establishment of subsidiary bodies and financial arrangements. The fourth meeting of the Contact Group was held on 18-19 June 2007 at the Palais des Nations, in Geneva.

Four delegations had submitted comments on new proposals on rules of procedure and a compliance review mechanism developed at the Group's last meeting (during the fourth meeting of the Working Group).


The third meeting of the Working Group on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers was held on 17-19 May 2006, to further preparations for the entry into force of the Protocol on PRTRs to the Aarhus Convention.

Earlier, Russian and French languages versions of the draft Guidance may be found among the official documents of the second meeting (ECE/MP.PP/AC.1/2005/5 through ECE/MP.PP/AC.1/2005/14) and the Annex to the Report of the second meeting (ECE/MP.PP/AC.1/2005/2).


Chairman's 2005 report on preparation for entry into force

At the second Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention (25-27 May 2005, Almaty, Kazakhstan), the Chair of the Working Group, Mr. Karel Blaha (Czech Republic), reported on the progress made toward preparation for entry into force of the Kiev Protocol on PRTRs. Measures undertaken by the European Community, notably the preparation and possible adoption of an EU regulation to establish a European PRTR in line with the requirements of the Protocol, were expected to speed up the process of ratification.

The work that had been done was welcomed by many delegations of the Meeting who especially found the a draft guidance document on implementation of the Protocol to be a clear and constructive document to help with implementation of the instrument.

There was general support expressed for the development of separate rules of procedure and a separate compliance mechanism, bearing in mind the open character of the Protocol and its specific nature, while noting that the rules of procedure and compliance mechanism of the Convention provided a good starting point. Several delegations reported on their capacity-building activities in South East Europe (SEE) and EECCA.


Second meeting of the Working Group

The Working Group held its second meeting, 13-15 April 2005, in Geneva. The session reviewed options for rules of procedure and a compliance mechanism to the Protocol and appointed a facilitator to prepare draft elements for these for consideration at its next session.

Participants gave the draft guidance on the Protocol on PRTRs its first reading and agreed to prepare a final version based on the drafts circulated and amended during the session, with the aim of completing the guidance in 2005.

The session also called attention to the need to address the capacity of EECCA countries to implement the Protocol successfully and called for greater outreach to the business sector, which has indirect obligations to report to national PRTRs.

The secretariat reported on a revised study of the costs of implementing the Protocol in ECE countries and invited delegations to participate in a trial of the cost model developed to support the study.

A preliminary draft of the PRTR Protocol guidance document is available in English in the PRTR Virtual Classroom. All Working Group members are invited to register in the Virtual Classroom's PRTR Guidance Forum.

The draft guidance is also available in French and Russian and may be downloaded from the Working Group Documents page.

Ms. Nino Tkhilava (Georgia) was elected to serve as a second Vice-Chair.


First meeting of the Working Group

The first meeting of the Working Group on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) established under the auspices of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention was held on 16-18 February 2004 with the mandate to pave the way for
the entry into force and implementation of the Protocol. Mr. Kaj Bärlund, Director of the UNECE Environment and Human Settlements Division, opened the meeting by reminding the Working Group that the establishment of pollution registers would be a major challenge in many countries, requiring support through capacity building, exchange of know-how, transfer of technology and financial assistance.

The Working Group requested that UNITAR, UNEP, OECD and the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, and any other organizations involved in PRTR capacity-building work, provide the secretariat with a list of their organizations' capacity building projects related to PRTR.

Recipient countries were also invited to present ideas and proposals that are focused on the Protocol to the secretariat.

The secretariat will compile a complete list of organizations' and recipient countries' capacity building projects, and their ideas and proposals focused on the Protocol.

While the Working Group recognized that the first meeting of the Parties to the Protocol would not take place for a number of years, it agreed to start the preparatory work by asking the secretariat to prepare an 'options' paper on developing rules of procedure and a compliance mechanism for the Protocol - a key issue being how closely these should correspond to those of the Convention, given that the Protocol is open to accession by non-Parties to the Convention.

Please see the Documents of the first meeting.

Guidance on implementation of Protocol to be developed

The Working Group also agreed upon a structured outline of a guidance document to guide implementation of the Protocol. It requested that, subject to funding, a first draft of the guidance document be ready in time for its next meeting and translated in time for distribution four weeks in advance of the meeting.


Other outcomes of the first meeting

The European ECO Forum presented a declaration on necessary steps for improving public participation in the implementation of the Kiev Protocol on PRTR, a key issue for the non-governmental representatives attending the meeting.

The representative of the European Commission presented the Commission's plans to extend the European Pollution Emission Register to a fully-fledged European PRTR conforming to the requirements of the Protocol by 2006, at which point the European Community would be in a position to ratify the Protocol. The first reporting year under the 'European-PRTR' would be 2007.

The timing of ratification by the European Commission could be seen as potentially influencing the timing of ratification by EU countries and accession states, and therefore as providing a hint of when the Protocol might enter into force. Sixteen states must ratify the Protocol for it to enter into force.

Mr. Karel Blaha (Czech Republic), who chaired the negotiating process for the Protocol, was elected as Chairman, and Mr. Michel Amand (Belgium) and Mr. Muzafar Isobaev (Tajikistan) were elected as Vice-Chairmen of the Working Group, the latter for a term of office up to the second meeting of the Working Group in early 2005.