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Stockholm Convention

Stockholm Convention

Global treaty on persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
Background and history of the Stockholm Convention
Implementation of the Stockholm Convention (with regard to PCB)

PCBs Elimination Network (PEN)
General obligations of the Stockholm Convention
Downloads

Global treaty on persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

This Convention regulates the prohibition of presently approx. 30 toxic chemicals called the POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants). The text of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted on 22 May 2001 and entered into force on 17 May 2004; 90 days after the 50th member country had ratified it.

After the signature of the Stockholm Convention a long and ambitious process has started, aiming at the worldwide elimination of production, use, release and storage of certain, extremely harmful and Persistent Organic Pollutants.

The initial twelve POPs are Aldrin, Chlordane, DDT, Dieldrin, Endrin, Heptachlor, Hexachloro-benzene, Mirex, Toxaphene, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) as well as Dioxins and Furans (unintentionally formed by-products as a result of incomplete combustion or chemical reactions).

Since its fourth meeting in 2009, the Conference of the Parties has decided to amend Annexes A, B and C to the Convention by adding various other organic substances.

​As of 2020 the following chemicals are targeted by the Stockholm Convention: 

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Background and history of the Stockholm Convention

In February 1997, the UNEP Governing Council in its decision 19/13C invited UNEP to prepare for and convene intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC), with a mandate to prepare an international legally binding instrument for implementing international action initially beginning with the 12 POPs and requested that the INC establish an expert group to develop criteria and a procedure for identifying additional POPs as candidates for future international action.

Chapter 19 of Agenda 21 adopted at the 1992 Rio Summit and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation agreed in 2002 both advocated for international efforts to address environmental and human health consequences of production and consumption of chemicals. The adoption of the Stockholm Convention is one of the most significant steps made towards achieving this goal.

Production and use of the listed POPs, has been prohibited or greatly restricted in most of the industrial countries. In many developing countries and countries in transition, however, POPs are still being produced or used, for example as pesticides in the agricultural sector, as impregnating agents for wood or as chemicals to fight malaria.

Unintentional chemical by-products like dioxins and furans result from combustion and industrial processes but have no commercial use at all. These chemical by-products are highly toxic. 

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Implementation of the Stockholm Convention (with regard to PCBs)

In most industrial countries PCBs contained in equipment have been inventoried and eliminated over the past three decades. In Switzerland, for example, the first inventory of PCBs in electrical equipment started in 1983, and by August 1998 all PCB containing transformers and capacitors were eliminated. Although closed applications of PCBs do no longer pose a problem in Switzerland, the obligations of the Stockholm Convention have not been fully addressed yet. Annex A, Part II (f) of the Stockholm Convention requires that efforts should be made to identify other articles containing more than 0.005 % PCBs including uses in open applications and to manage them in an environmentally sound manner. Whereas, the identification and management of PCB containing caulks is stipulated in a specific Swiss guideline, the identification of other open applications, such as anti-corrosion coatings and paints, cable sheaths or flame retardants is not regulated. Most of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention have compiled preliminary PCB inventories for their National Implementation Plans (NIP). This has revealed that approximately 3 million tonnes of equipment containing or contaminated with PCBs is still in use in developing and transition countries. However, different methods and approaches to inventories have been used in these countries. Some simply estimated the number of devices suspected to contain PCBs; some calculated the weight of PCB containing waste based on the (often poor) feedback from questionnaires; while others focused not only on transformers and capacitors but also analysed samples from sites suspected to be contaminated. Assessments of the real situation in the countries show that the actual quantities of PCBs often vary significantly from the preliminary assumptions and the inventory data. Reliable detection, identification and quantification are the starting points for efforts to remove PCB contamination from electrical equipment and open applications. In order to decide the environmentally preferred and most economically viable elimination or treatment options for a specific country it is necessary to first collect reliable information about the kind and the extent of the PCBs problem.

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PCBs Elimination Network (PEN)

The (PEN) was launched at the simultaneous extraordinary meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions in Bali on 22 February 2010.

According to Annex A part II of the Stockholm Convention, Parties to the Convention are obliged to eliminate equipment and oils containing PCBs from use by 2025 and bring these under environmentally sound waste management by 2028. Main obstacles encountered by developing countries and countries with economies in transition concerning the environmentally sound management (ESM) of PCB oils and equipment containing PCBs are lack of capacities, poor inventories, limited resources and inaccessible information.

The PEN has been established as an arrangement for information exchange on the promotion of the cost-effective completion of the environmentally sound management (ESM) of liquids and equipment containing or contaminated with PCBs. The PEN is designed as an equal partnership for stakeholders from different sectors with an interest in the ESM of PCBs to interact within a voluntary framework to undertake the following:

  • Record and disseminate information on the activities of the PEN through the Clearing House Mechanism of the Stockholm Convention
  • Provide a link between members and promote local networking
  • Promote the Stockholm Convention and the achievement of its PCB related objectives
  • Raise awareness on successful ESM activities
  • Promote the research, development and the transfer of environmentally sound techniques to developing countries
  • Establish annual awards for contribution to the ESM of PCBs using donations from members
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PEN Advisory Committee

General obligations of the Stockholm Convention

The contracted parties to the Stockholm Convention must take the following measures:

  • Production, use, import, and export of presently approx. 30 dangerous POPs shall be eliminated or restricted. For DDT a special regulation has been stipulated, as this product is used in developing countries to fight malaria
  • Unintentional production of POPs shall be reduced or eliminated; when new plants/installations are constructed, measures shall be taken to minimize a possible production of POPs
  • Stockpiles and wastes that are contaminated with POPs shall be recorded in an inventory and managed and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner
  • The use of devices containing PCB is still permitted until 2025, under the condition that certain safety precautions and conditions are fulfilled
  • By the year 2028, however, all PCB equipment shall be disposed of in an environmentally sound manner
  • Additional POPs shall be targeted

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