BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

The ‘Recommendation concerning reduction of emission of lead from combustion of
leaded gasoline 9/4’ might be one of the more important ones, recognizing that a
considerable amount of lead enters into the Baltic through atmospheric deposition.
The most important source for that emission is automobile exhaust caused by
combustion of leaded gasoline. The main message in that recommendation is that
lead-free gasoline should be available. The recommendation was adopted 1988.
Sweden had already implemented an Ordinance saying that lead free gasoline must
professionally be transferred at filling stations with more than one pump from July 1,
1987.
According to the Swedish experiences of to-day, we will be able to phase out leaded
gasoline completely and the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed that
1995 should be the deadline. Acceptable alternatives are available on the Swedish
market.
Conclusion
Recommendations on products will probably be an important instrument to control
emissions of undesirable chemicals from different products (goods) in the future. So
far, the implementation of the recommendations has not been so difficult for Sweden
due to national regulations in force or political agreements. In the future we might
approach areas where harmonization with other international organizations to a
greater extent will be a prerequisite for Helcom recommendations and where all
Contracting Parties will phase the same problems,
Helcom recommendations have to be implemented through national legislation. This
is an important and very demanding task for the Contracting Parties.
Product control will probably be of great importance in the future Helcom work.
Some questions of particular interest might be;
- goods containing chemicals, which have been identified as priorities for risk
reduction,
- products such as sludge, fertilizers, whose routes of application imply a high
exposure to the environment
221