Other national objectives and legislation

General information concerning

environmental legislation and legislation on chemicals in Finland

The Finnish National Programme on Dangerous Chemicals was published in 2006. The programme takes into account the effects on consumers, public health, workers’ health and safety, and the effects on the environment during the entire lifecycle of chemicals. The fi ve priority areas identifi ed are:

A high level of protection of health and the

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environment under the REACH regulation will be achieved, the provisions of the regulation will be effectively implemented and the new data gath-ered in the implementation of the regulation will be utilized.

Adequate data on exposure and emissions of

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chemicals dangerous to human health and the environment must be provided for risk assess-ment and risk manageassess-ment activities.

Companies must have suffi cient know-how of

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and tools for chemical risk management and must apply them to ensure a high level of protec-tion.

Suffi cient data on chemicals in products and

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manufactured goods must be provided and the risks from these chemicals must be controlled during the entire lifecycle of the products and goods.

Finland has actively participated in the work to

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minimize by 2020 signifi cant adverse effects of chemicals globally in accordance with the Johan-nesburg objectives.

The main legislative requirements for chemicals are set at the EU level. Two national acts, the Chemicals Act and the Environmental Protection Act, implement the EU directives or designate the control authorities and punishments for EU regula-tions. They also include basic principles for chemi-cal users and manufacturers which form a certain safety net for chemicals handling. These principles include the duty to exercise caution, the duty to obtain information, the substitution principle, the polluter pays principle, the principle of best avail-able technique, and absolute prohibitions on soil contamination and groundwater pollution. In addi-tion, the Environmental Protection Act and Decree specify the industrial and other sectors that require an environmental permit. The scope also covers has been to develop and maintain a comprehensive

regulatory framework for shipping, including in relation to environmental concerns.

The MARPOL Convention—the International Con-vention for the PreCon-vention of Marine Pollution from Ships—is the most important instrument for the protection of the environment from shipping. It is a combination of two treaties adopted in 1973 and 1978, respectively, and updated by amendments through the years.

The Convention includes regulations aimed at preventing and minimizing pollution from ships, both accidental pollution and that from routine operations. The Convention includes six technical Annexes, two of which relate to hazardous sub-stances: Annex I covering pollution by oil and Annex II dealing with pollution by chemicals. All HELCOM Contracting Parties are parties to MARPOL 73/78 and its Annexes I and II (Table 4.1).

Annex I regulates operational discharges of oil from tankers and makes it mandatory for new oil tankers to have double hulls. It also contains a phase-in schedule for existing tankers to be fi tted with double hulls. The Baltic Sea, due its vulner-ability to pollution by oil, has been designated a special area, meaning that discharges of oil or oily mixtures from ships have been prohibited com-pletely, with minor and well-defi ned exceptions.

Annex II specifi es discharge criteria and meas-ures for the control of pollution by noxious liquid substances carried in bulk. About 250 substances were evaluated and included in the list appended.

The discharge of their residues is allowed only to reception facilities until certain concentrations and conditions are complied with. To uphold this prohibition, MARPOL 73/78 and HELCOM require all ships, with a few exceptions, to deliver to a port reception facility, before leaving the port, their ship-generated wastes and cargo residues that cannot be legally discharged under MARPOL 73/78. To further encourage delivery, the countries bordering the Baltic Sea have agreed that ships should not be charged for using such reception facilities under the “no-special-fee” system. Costs are recovered instead from general harbour fees or general environmental fees.

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took place on 29 December 2009). According to the Wastewater Treatment Regulation, economic entities that discharge their wastewater into the sewerage systems must determine which hazard-ous substances and priority hazardhazard-ous substances are present in the wastewater and at what con-centrations. The Regulation also provides a list of parameters to be controlled according to the type of industry. Furthermore, economic entities must make an inventory of dangerous substances applicable to their industrial sector and present this inventory in the application for an IPPC permit (Order of the Minister of Environment No. 80, Inte-grated Pollution Prevention Control of 27 February 2002; most recent amendments took place on 25 January 2010). The frequency of monitoring haz-ardous substances by industries is set in the IPPC permit. If the maximum allowable concentrations of these substances are exceeded, reduction pro-grammes should be prepared and implemented.

Polish national regulations on hazardous substances

Except the directly binding EU legal regulations, as for example European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use REACH, there are several national regulations which deals with ban of the usage and limiting emission of hazardous substances.

For example marketing of cadmium is regulated by:

the Act of 24 April 2009 on batteries and

accu-•

mulators, which describes requirements for entering the market of batteries and accumula-tors, the rules for collecting, processing, recycling and disposal of spent batteries and accumulators, Regulations of the Minister of Economy of 27

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March 2007 on detailed requirements regarding the use in electrical and electronic equipment of certain substances that might adversely impact on the environment,

Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and

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Rural Development dated 19 October 2004 on implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Fertilizers and Fertilization, which defi nes the limit value of pollutants, including cadmium in mineral fertilizers.

Occurrence of mercury in environment is regulated through several regulations based on ecologi-cal quality standards set up by EU law. However limitation and prohibition of usage is refl ected for plants smaller than those covered by the IPPC

Directive. Hazardous substances, especially those belonging to the substance groups listed in the IPPC Directive, need to be taken into consideration within the environmental permitting system.

According to the general principles, suffi cient care and caution shall be exercised in the manufacture, import and other handling of chemicals in order to prevent harm to health and the environment, taking into consideration the amount and danger-ous character of the chemical. Manufacturers and importers of a chemical shall obtain such informa-tion on the physical and chemical properties and on the effects on health and the environment of the chemical that is adequate for assessing the health and environmental risks and for labelling the chemical. The manufacturers or users of chemicals shall select the chemical or method for use which causes the least risk, whenever possible.

Lithuanian national legislation

The main Lithuanian law with a focus on water is the Law on Water. The law is from 21 October 1997; essential amendments to this law, especially for the full implementation of the WFD, took place on 25 March 2003 and the most recent amendments were made on 17 December 2009.

Details for monitoring are regulated in the Law on Environmental Monitoring of 20 November 1997 (most recent amendments on 4 May 2006). For some regulations under the Law on Water that deal with the control of pollution by hazardous substances, there are specifi c provisions by Orders of the Minister of Environment, e.g., Order of the Minister of Environment No. 457 on the Approval of the Regulation for the Determination of the Environmental Quality Objectives of 15 Septem-ber 2003 (most recent amendments on 9 June 2009). The Programme for the Reduction of the Discharges of Dangerous Substances into Water Bodies, approved by the Order of the Minister of Environment No. D1-71 of 13 February 2004 (most recent amendments on 20 May 2008), includes a list of substances that may be discharged by certain types of industries. The lists of priority hazard-ous substances, hazardhazard-ous substances and other substances that are under control in Lithuania were fi xed in the Order of the Minister of Environ-ment No. D1-236 of 17 May 2006 on Wastewater Treatment Regulation (most recent amendments 84

tions to be met for the introduction of sewage into the water or soil and on substances particularly harmful to the aquatic environment.

Russian national legislation

In 2002, a new federal law on “environmental protection” was adopted in Russia. The new leg-islation aims to develop a modern national system of technology standards based on best available technologies (BAT). This system will result in a more effi cient process for granting permits to industrial enterprises and will ultimately lead to better environmental protection. The law intro-duces a concept of technology standards based on allowable discharges and emissions of substances and microorganisms into the environment per unit of production. The technology standards are con-sidered to be strict.

On 1 July 2003, the Federal Law on Technical Regu-lation went into effect in Russia. The development of this law was mainly initiated owing to the acces-sion of the Russian Federation to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Federal Law seeks to harmonize the Russian system of standards with the international system. The negotiations on Russia’s accession to the WTO reached its fi nal stage at the time that the EU tightened its chemical manage-example in Regulations of the Minister of Economy

of 27 March 2007 on detailed requirements regarding the use in electrical and electronic equip-ment of certain substances that might adversely impact on the environment and the Act of 24 April 2009 on batteries and accumulators.

Ban the use and marketing of endosulfan in Poland is introduced by Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development dated 28 June 2006 changing the regulation on the list of active substances according to which use in pesticides is prohibited.

Usage and marketing of brominated diphenyl ethers are regulated through Regulation of the Minister of Economy of 27 March 2007 on the detailed requirements for the restriction on the use of electrical and electronic equipment for certain substances which could negatively impact on the environment.

Ban the use and limiting use of nonylphenols is reg-ulated by Regulation of the Minister of Health dated 30 March 2005 on the list of substances prohibited or permitted with restrictions for use in cosmetics and graphic logos appearing on the packaging of cosmetic products (Annex for a list of substances prohibited for use in cosmetic products).

Occurrence of dioxins, furans and dioxin like poly-chlorinated biphenyls is regulated by Regulation of the Minister of Environment dated 24 July 2006 on conditions to be met for the introduction of sewage into the water or soil and on substances particularly harmful to the aquatic environment however use and handling of above mentioned substances is introduced by Regulation of the Min-ister of Economy dated 24 June 2002 on require-ments for the use and handling of substances posing a particular threat to the environment and the use and cleaning of installations or devices, which have been or are used for substances posing a particular threat to the environment.

Organotin compounds are limited as well in the market is regulated by Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development dated 12 February 2008 on the permissible levels of pesti-cide residues in feed materials and compound feed as in environment through Regulation of the

Min-ister of Environment dated 24 July 2006 on condi- 85

government agencies in the environmental sector such as the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Chemicals Agency.

The Environmental Code is the integrated body of environmental legislation enacted in Sweden. Its rules relate to many issues, for example, the man-agement of land and water, environmentally hazard-ous activities and chemical products, among others.

To conduct more environmentally hazardous oper-ations, permits must be obtained from environ-mental courts or county administrative boards. The supervisory authority in each municipality also has an important role in protecting human health and the environment from damage and detriment.

The general purpose of the Code is to promote sustainable development that will ensure a healthy and sound environment for present and future generations.

The Swedish Parliament has adopted fi fteen national environmental quality objectives which describe environmental states that are a precondition for sus-tainable development. According to the Parliament, it should be possible to achieve these objectives within one generation or by the year 2025.

In the Code, the so-called general rules of consid-eration comprise several fundamental principles and must always be complied with and applied to all operations and measures covered by the provi-sions of the Code, for example, the handling of chemical products and the conduct of environmen-tally hazardous activities.

Specifi c rules on chemical products are found in chapter 14 of the Environmental Code. Of par-ticular interest for chemicals and for chemical products is one of the rules for consideration: “the product choice principle”. This principle states that the use or sale of chemical products that may involve hazards to human health or the environ-ment should be avoided if other, less dangerous products can be used instead. The product choice principle should always be applied where there is a choice. There is a strong link between the principle of “the knowledge requirement” and the principle that “the best available technology” should be used. The product choice principle applies particu-larly to persons who use or sell chemical products.

ment legislation by the introduction of the REACH system. New technical regulations are being drafted in Russia and many of them are directly associated with the modernization of the chemicals industry.

However, many of the technical regulations still have to be developed (Eco-Accord 2006).

The Federal Law on Safe Management of Pesticides and Agricultural Chemicals is in force. The Law reg-ulates the fulfi llment of state management func-tions in the sphere of safe handling of pesticides and agricultural chemicals, and the development, production, sale, storage, transportation, use, neutralization, recycling, destruction, advertising, import and export of pesticides and agricultural chemicals. However, it is not yet supported by relevant regulations on procedures of state testing and registration of pesticides, on state control of production, transportation, storage and elimination of pesticides, or on rehabilitation of storage facili-ties contaminated by pesticides.

In general, Russian legislation on environmentally safe management of chemical products lacks a comprehensive risk assessment of the environmental hazards of substances due to the general “acute”

toxicity approach, which does not allow proper eval-uation of potential impacts on marine ecosystems.

Further harmonization of the legal framework with regard to hazardous substances is needed and HELCOM provisions should be well-utilized for this purpose.

General information concerning

environmental legislation and legislation on chemicals in Sweden

Sweden has a long history of environmental leg-islation and legleg-islation on chemicals. In 1999, the Swedish Environmental Code came into force.

The Code replaces fi fteen previous Acts that were repealed on its entry into force on 1 January 1999.

With its related Ordinances and rules, the Environ-mental Code covers a very wide fi eld. Altogether the Code’s system of rules comprises thousands of provisions. The Code is a framework law, which means that its rules do not generally specify limit values for various operations and that it does not go into detail in relation to striking a balance between various interests. The rules are often made more specifi c by regulations issued by central 86

5 SYNTHESIS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR

Im Dokument the Baltic Sea (Seite 85-89)