International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

58.0 Ireland and the UNECE / Stockholm
Conventions
Irish waste management (and other) policy should incorporate measures to ensure
compliance with both the UNECE and Stockholm Conventions (see Annex 1.0). This
requirement may be not be immediately obvious because whilst Ireland is a signatory
to both the UNECE and the Stockholm conventions, it is not a party to either. 1085 The
EU, however, is a party to both and has implemented them through regulations which
also apply to Ireland. The main legal instrument for implementing the Stockholm
Convention and the UNECE Protocol on POPs within the EU is Regulation (EC) No.
850/2004. 1086 This Regulation entered into force 20 th May 2004 and as a
regulation, it is directly applicable in all Member States, including those, like Ireland,
which are not yet Parties in their own right to the Stockholm Convention or the UNECE
Protocols. Two separate Council decisions concerning the Community’s conclusions
on these two international agreements have been made in parallel to the
Regulation. 1087 Ireland should, therefore, have implemented these requirements
already and should be ensuring compliance with the Stockholm Convention
obligations. At present, there is no obvious evidence that this has been done in
practice, though a National Implementation Plan (NIP) is in the process of being
prepared (see below).
The EPA has been designated by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local
Government as the Competent Authority for the implementation and enforcement in
Ireland of Regulation 850/2004 on POPs. 1088 The EPA liaises with relevant public
bodies such as, Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Irish Medicines Board, Health and
Safety Authority and Pesticide Control Service to regulate POPs in Ireland.
Article 8 of the same Regulation - 850/2004 - is the legal basis for the requirement to
prepare a NIP. This is currently being prepared in Ireland, as described above
1085 Ireland signed the Stockholm Convention on 23 rd May 2001 but has not yet ratified.
http://chm.pops.int/Countries/StatusofRatification/tabid/252/language/en-US/Default.aspx
1086 European Commission (2004) Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 Of The European Parliament and of
the Council of 29 April 2004 on persistent organic pollutants and amending Directive 79/117/EEC
Note that whilst this was published in the Official Journal of the European Union L158 of 30th April
2004, a Corrigendum to the Regulation was subsequently published in the Official Journal L229/5 of
29th June 2004. 2004, Official Journal of the European Union L 229/5.
1087 Council Decision 259/2004/EC of 19 February 2004 concerning the conclusion, on behalf of the
European Community, of the Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air
Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants; and Council Decision concerning the conclusion, on behalf
of the European Community, of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was
adopted on 14 October 2004.
1088 Environmental Protection Agency (2008) Consultation Paper on a Proposal to Prepare a National
Implementation Plan on Persistent Organic Pollutants, June 2008.
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