Europe bans Mercury

September 26, 2008

Europe bans Mercury

..

" Let us hope that other countries will follow our example and support our

goal of cutting the global supply of this dangerous substance, " said

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, welcoming the Council's final rubber

stamp on the regulation.

Following yesterday's adoption, all mercury exports from the EU will stop as

off March 2011. The new legislation also requires that the remaining

surplus of mercury needs to be put into safe storage as of the same date.

The Council's adoption follows a compromise deal struck between the three EU

institutions earlier this Spring after debate on when the ban should enter

in force and whether it should have also included imports (EurActiv

t-ban/article-172579>

).

Demands by the Parliament to impose a ban on mercury imports were rejected

as impractical and importing mercury will therefore still be possible.

Meanwhile the export ban enters in force earlier than initially proposed by

the Commission (October 2011).

Mercury is a highly toxic substance and its contamination comes from a wide

variety of sources, such as waste recycling and industrial facilities

involved in cleaning non-ferrous metals and natural gas. In the EU, the

chlor-alkali industry remains the largest single user of mercury and has

already committed to either close or convert its mercury plants by 2020 at

the latest.

According to the Commission, the export ban is " a key part of the EU's

strategy for reducing the global supply of mercury and thereby limiting

emissions of the highly toxic heavy metal into the environment " .

The Commission first presented its proposal for a regulation to control

mercury back in 2006 (EurActiv

ports-by-2011/article-159207>).

The proposal followed the EU's 2005 mercury strategy, which outlined

a comprehensive plan for addressing mercury pollution both in the EU and

globally.

hziehen/article-175769

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