Preventing Industrial Accidents
UN/ECE gets down to the nitty-gritty
Geneva, 21 November 2000
The States Parties to the Convention on the Transboundary
Effects of Industrial Accidents will meet for the first time tomorrow,
22 November 2000, following the Convention’s recent entry into force.
High on the agenda of their three-day meeting in
Brussels will be a Swiss proposal to draw up a protocol on civil liability for
transboundary damage caused by industrial accidents. The proposal comes in the wake of the
mining accident at Baia Mare (Romania), which caused widespread water pollution earlier
this year. The Parties are also expected to assess to what extent the Convention is
already being applied and decide what they can do to make it even more effective.
The Convention was negotiated by the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) as part of its pan-European environmental legal
framework. The Convention aims to prevent industrial accidents and limit the impact of
those that do happen. It requires its Parties among other things to identify hazardous
industrial operations within their jurisdiction so that cross-border contingency plans can
be drawn up. In the event of an industrial accident, its Parties are obliged to
immediately notify the countries that might be affected. The Convention also promotes
international cooperation to improve emergency preparedness and to improve industrial
safety. The full text of the Convention is available on the UN/ECE web site:
http://www.unece.org/env/teia/welcome.html
It has already been ratified by Albania, Armenia,
Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and the European Community, and more countries are to follow suit.
For more
information, please contact:
Kaj Bärlund, Director
UN/ECE Environment and Human Settlements Division
Palais des Nations, office 334
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: (+41 22) 917 23 70
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. |