Council adopts stricter rules on the world's most dangerous chemicals
Today, the EU has toughened the rules applicable to persistent organic pollutants, the UN-agreed list of dangerous substances. The regulation adopted by the Council today ensures that people and the environment are better protected against these chemicals.
The updated rules bring the regulation in line with the latest amendments to the Stockholm Convention, which provides the global legal framework for the elimination of the production, use, import and export of persistent organic pollutants. Several changes align the regulation more closely with the general EU legislation on chemicals. As a result of these changes, there will be more clarity, transparency and increased legal certainty for all parties involved in the implementation of the regulation.
Background
Persistent organic pollutants are chemical substances which are transported across international boundaries, far from their sources, and persist in the environment, bioaccumulate, and thereby pose a threat to human health and the environment.
On 22 March 2018, the European Commission presented a proposal to recast the regulation on persistent organic pollutants. The Council adopted its position on the regulation on 28 November. Negotiations with the European Parliament started on 4 December 2018 and ended in a provisional agreement on 19 February 2019, which was endorsed by the ambassadors of EU member states.
Following today's adoption, which was the final step in the procedure, the regulation will enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It will be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all member states.