UN Economic Commission for Europe Proposal for Budapest 2004
Environment and Health Ministerial Conference PRTR Side event
Title of the Side event:
Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR) as a tool for promoting
environmental health: the evolving international framework for development
of PRTR systems and their application to pan-European environmental health initiatives.
Short description of the Side event:
The advent of the UNECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers,
developed under the auspices of the Aarhus Convention (Aarhus 1998) and signed in
Kiev in May 2003, and launch of the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) in
February 2004, are two recent landmarks in the development the pan-European public's
right-to-know about the sources of pollutants. This Side event will review the progress
in development of national and regional PRTRs and address how the application of the
principles and elements of the Aarhus Convention and its PRTR Protocol and their
incorporation into the design of the future .European-PRTR. could support the
development of a pan-European environmental health information system.
Speakers from the following ministries or organizations would be invited:
- A minister from a country with an established PRTR system
- A minister from a country preparing a PRTR system
- United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
- One or more speakers from members of the Inter-Organization Programme
for the Sound Management of Chemicals PRTR Co-ordinating Group
(e.g., Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Institute
for Training and Research (UNITAR), World Health Organisation (WHO), etc.)
- Commission of the European Communities/ European Environment Agency (EEA)
- Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)
- European ECO Forum
Interpretation for Russian speakers would be requested.