Regulation:

an international approach

From 1978, the European directive relating to toxic and hazardous waste laid the foundations for u policy which remains completely relevant today: priority given to prevention and recycling; environmental and sanitary guaranties provided by the conditions for disposal authorization of inspection of transport and treatment operations; separate collection and landfilling of hazardous waste without mixing (see article on the new framework directive, page 23). The 1978 law also included the ”polluter pays” principle, adopted by the OECD in 1972, whereby the polluter pays to reduce its own pollution.

Since then, the regulatory base has become progressively stronger – at a European and international level – with a broader field of application. It now addresses several objectives: to identify limit or dispose of toxic substances on the market (Stockholm Convention, RoHS directive and REACH regulations), monitoring und reducing emissions resulting from industrial activity (IPPC directive); monitoring transport and cross-border transfers of hazardous waste and the international

chemicals trade (Basel and Rotterdam conventions); specifically protecting the most fragile or at-risk natural environments (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Marpol and Ospar conventions, directive on environmental quality standards for water, directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law, etc.). As well as international conventions and European regulation, which play an important role in terms of requirements und influence in the context of an enlarged Europe, multilateral agreements, such as those between Canada und the United States form part of the same approach.

Public access to information is another focus of environmental policies. Europe implemented it in 2004 with the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER), which is due to be replaced by a more comprehensive Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) in 2009, relating to emissions in the air, mater and ground as well as release of waste und waste water from large facilities and dispersed sources. Canada, with its National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), und the United States with the National Emission Inventory program covering atmospheric pollution, have also made declarations, which are published, obligatory.