A public consultation is underway in the EU, and will run until 5 October, on the evaluation of Regulation 166/2006/EC which established a European pollutant release and transfer register (E-PRTR regulation). The purpose is to assess the performance of this register and to identify what is working well and what is not and why.Citizens, public authorities and organisations are invited by the European Commission to submit their comments on implementation of this regulation, which requires some 28,000 industrial facilities annually to make a statement to their national authorities on the release of certain pollutants and waste transfers. This information is then included in the European PRTR, an internet site easily accessible to the public, in line with the Protocol to the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters.Anyone who wishes to contribute to the consultation may complete a questionnaire which seeks responses on the scope of the European PRTR, providing data to the register, checking and forwarding data, understanding the register website and the usefulness of the register. The findings of the consultation will inform the evaluation currently underway of the regulation to assess whether it is sufficient to achieve the objectives set, its effectiveness and the relevance of the register.
