UN/ECE
Convention on Industrial Accidents
enters into force
Date is set for the first meeting of its Parties
Geneva, 18 April 2000
The Convention on the
Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents will come into effect tomorrow, 19 April 2000. The Convention was negotiated by the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) as part of its pan-European environmental legal framework.
It has already been ratified by Albania, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Norway, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the European Community. More countries are to follow suit.
What difference will the Convention
make?
The Convention obliges its Parties to identify
hazardous industrial operations and assess the risks so as to ensure that they operate
safely and that precautions are taken to prevent accidents. Hazardous operations should
also be sited where they are the least likely to have an impact on the environment.
Moreover, neighbouring countries need to be told about such operations and the hazards
they pose, so that cross-border contingency plans can be drawn up. This means that,
should an accident nevertheless occur, these countries can take adequate response measures
together.
The Convention’s framework also
includes a system of notification. In the event of an industrial accident, the
countries that might be affected will be informed immediately. This will give them more
time to activate their response measures.
Since a country is unlikely to be able to
cope with the effects of a severe accident on its own, the Convention also foresees that
other countries should offer assistance.
Besides the cooperation envisaged in the
event of an industrial accident, the Convention also promotes the sharing of information
and technology to improve emergency preparedness and to help especially the
countries with economies in transition to improve industrial safety.
In the wake of the accident at Baia Mare
(Romania), which caused extensive environmental damage earlier this year, the
Convention’s Parties are expected to discuss a proposal on responsibility and
liability for industrial accidents at their first meeting, scheduled for November
2000. They are also likely to recommend further cooperation with the Parties to the UN/ECE
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
to prevent accidental water pollution. Moreover, the Parties will assess to what extent
the Convention is already being applied and decide what kind of assistance particularly countries in transition need to this end.
The Director of the UN/ECE Environment and
Human Settlements Division, Kaj Bärlund, who is also a member of the Baia Mare Task
Force, says that "the early findings of the Task Force show that long-term commitment
can lead to improvements in industrial installations and reduce accidents. With the
Convention’s entry into force we’ve taken an important step in the right
direction, but much remains to be done."
For more information, please contact:
Sergiusz LUDWICZAK
UN/ECE Environment and Human Settlements Division
Palais des Nations, office 409
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: (+41 22) 917 31 74
Fax: (+41 22) 907 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
In order to provide you with a better
service, we would appreciate it if you would send a copy of your article to: Information Unit, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE), Palais des
Nations, Room 356, CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland,
Tel: +(41 22) 917 44 44, Fax: +(41 22) 917
05 05,E-mail: [email protected],
Website: http://www.unece.org
Thank you. |