The seventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (Industrial Accidents Convention) will be held from 14 to 16 November 2012 in Stockholm, marking the Convention’s twentieth anniversary.
The seventh Conference of the Parties is expected to take a number of decisions, including on:
- The opening of the Convention to all United Nations Member States, following interest expressed by various non-UNECE member States in acceding to it.
- Aligning the Convention’s list of hazardous substances with the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals — which is being rolled out in 67 countries — to be consistent with the latest revision of the European Union’s Seveso Directive.
The Conference of the Parties meets every two years to review implementation of the Convention and its previous workplan before taking a number of decisions for the next biennium. At its seventh meeting, the Conference will review the work of the Bureau, activities carried out within the Convention’s Assistance Programme and the operation of the Industrial Accident Notification System. In addition, the Conference will adopt the Convention workplan for 2013–2014 and discuss actions to support ratification of the Convention’s Protocol on Civil Liability, which is not yet in force.
The Conference will also include a seminar, organized by the host country, on how national authorities can support local authorities in preparedness for and response to industrial accidents.
The Convention’s achievements in improving the level of industrial safety in the UNECE region are summarized in an anniversary publication: Twenty years of Prevention, Preparedness and Response, available online from http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=31253.
For more information, please visit http://www.unece.org/env/teia/cop7.html or contact: [email protected].
Note to editors
The 1992 Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents is designed to protect people and the environment against industrial accidents. The Convention aims at preventing accidents from occurring, or reducing their frequency and severity and mitigating their effects if required. To date there are 40 Parties to the Convention which include, besides the European Union (EU) and 25 of the EU member States (without Ireland and Malta), Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Switzerland and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.