Within the framework of the OSCE Environment and Security Initiative, a National Workshop on Obligations and Rights under the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers to the Aarhus Convention in the Republic of Armenia was held on 6 – 8 November 2007 in Yerevan, Armenia. The Workshop was organized at the initiative of the Republic of Armenia Ministry of Nature Protection, with the assistance of the UNECE Secretariat to the Aarhus Convention and the OSCE Yerevan Office.
In 2001, the Republic of Armenia ratified the UNECE Aarhus Convention On Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters; in 2003, it signed the Convention's Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR Protocol) at the 5th Ministerial Conference of the European Environment and Nature Protection Ministers held in Kiev.
The Protocol aims to increase public access to PRTR information through setting up comprehensive national registers for pollutant emissions and transfer that would contribute to the public participation in environmental decision-making processes, and also assist with environmental safety and reduction of pollution.
United Nations experts from the Aarhus Convention secretariat and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and an EU national expert (from Estonia) participated in the workshop. They presented on international experience with PRTR systems, including the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) which has been upgraded to a full European PRTR system. National coordinators of the Aarhus Convention and PRTR Protocol, as well as representatives of the Republic’s larger enterprises, various ministries of the Republic, international organizations, scientific and business sectors, and NGOs also participated in the workshop activities.
Upon the PRTR Protocol’s entry into force, the countries acting as Parties to the Protocol must establish operating PRTR national systems. The Protocol is expected to enter into force in 2008. The first reporting year will be the calendar year following entry into force, for those countries which have ratified the instrument.
Although only four Member States and the European Community have so f ar ratified the Protocol, several EU countries have already introduced national pollutant emission registers in conformity with its requirements.
The Republic of Armenia does not yet have an operating PRTR national system. Before ratifying the Protocol, Armenia will study the possibilities and constraints existing in the country that relate to the formation of its national PRTR.
The workshop laid the foundation for the implementation of obligations and rights under the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers to the Aarhus Convention in Armenia. It helped to increase understanding of the Protocol’s implementation mechanisms by all major stakeholders.
[Source: Ministry of Nature Protection, Republic of Armenia]
