Decision (EU) 2017/1138 on the position to be taken at the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Summary:

Council Decision of 19 June 2017 establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the Union as regards the adoption of the required content of the certification referred to in Article 3(12) and of the guidance referred to in Article 8(8) and (9) of the Convention.

Further information:

The European Union has signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which was negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and adopted in October 2013 at a Conference of the Plenipotentiaries in Kumamoto, Japan. This Conference set up and mandated a group of technical experts, as a subsidiary body reporting to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, to develop the guidance documents called for in Article 8, paragraphs 8 and 9, of the Convention.

The guidance documents finalised by the expert group were submitted for provisional adoption at the seventh session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in March 2016, ahead of their formal and final adoption by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP) at their first meeting in Geneva, 24–29 September 2017.

Background:

The Minamata Convention is the main international legal framework aimed at protecting human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds to air, water and land. It addresses the whole life-cycle of mercury from primary mercury mining to mercury waste disposal.

Official

EUR-Lex: COM(2016)3: Proposal for a Decision on the position to be adopted at the seventh session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee and at the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2016:003:FIN

United Nations Environment Programme: First meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP1) http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Meetings/COP1/tabid/5544/language/en-US/Default.aspx

---

Commentary and Analysis

EPRS: Briefing, September 2017: Key issues at stake at COP1 on the Minamata Convention, Geneva, 24–29 September 2017 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/607347/IPOL_BRI(2017)607347_EN.pdf

---