Ospar states discuss Sintra implementation European countries bordering the Atlantic plus Luxembourg and Switzerland have taken their first formal steps towards implementing last year's historic agreement to completely end discharges of hazardous substances to the marine environment by 2020, during the annual meeting of the Ospar convention which ended on Friday. During a week of talks in Kingston Upon Hull, in the UK, government officials from Ospar's 15 member countries agreed on two more rapporteur countries to lead the process of dealing with a priority list of hazardous substances agreed at Sintra. The meeting also agreed mechanisms to include new substances on the priority list.
Candidates are due to be proposed for inclusion next year.
These will lead the process of studying patterns of emissions and proposing abatement measures. The remaining four substances were not allocated to lead countries during the meeting, prompting environmental groups to complain of insufficient commitment by governments. The meeting also made progress on measures to reduce radioactive substances, an Ospar official told ENDS Daily. The subject would be tackled in more depth at the next annual meeting, when an OECD report on the consequences of phasing out nuclear fuel reprocessing would be presented, he added. Stricter guidelines on the disposal of offshore oil and gas installations were agreed.