Long range transboundary air pollution: heavy metals. 1998 Protocol to the 1979 Convention

PURPOSE : to conclude a Protocol (1998) to the 1979 Convention on air pollution. COMMUNITY MEASURE : Council Decision 2001/379/EC on the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution on Heavy Metals. CONTENT : the Council adopted a Decision whereby the Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution on Heavy Metals, which was signed in Aarhus on 24 June 1998, is approved on behalf of the European Community. The Community has been part of the Convention since 1982. The Protocol aims at controlling emissions of heavy metals caused by anthropogenic activities that are subject to long-range transboundary atmospheric transport and that are likely to have significant adverse effects on human health or the environment. The Protocol stipulates the reduction of total annual emissions of cadmium, lead and mercury into the atmosphere, and the application of products control measures. ENTRY INTO FORCE : the Protocol shall enter into force as soon as all the necessary procedures to this effect have been completed.�