The Council of State of the Canton of Geneva has approved the setting up a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR).
Following the adoption in May 2006 of the Swiss federal Ordinance on PRTR, the Canton of Geneva is establishing a register that will put into effect at cantonal level the Protocol on PRTR. Switzerland signed the Protocol on PRTR at the 5th Environment for Europe conference in Kiev in May 2003.
PRTRs establish a dependable inventory of the hazardous pollutants emitted into the air, water and soil, which will also lead to more transparency in the activities of facilities which manufacture or use polluting substances. The Swiss PRTR Ordinance will however only apply to a limited number of Geneva enterprises since it concerns only those which release large quantities of pollutants or transfer large quantities of wastes.
For the complete text of the Ordonnance RRTP (ORRTP) (registre des rejets et transferts de polluants), see http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/gg/pc/documents/1355/PRTR-Verordnung_Bericht_f.pdf
[Source: Service cantonal de gestion des déchet]
