Study on EU implementation of the Minamata convention on Mercury

In January 2013 negotiations were concluded on a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. It was named the "Minamata Convention on Mercury" after the Japanese town that experienced severe mercury pollution in the 1950s. The Minamata Convention (MC) is the best prospect seen so far for reducing risks from direct and indirect exposure to mercury at a global level. Without the Convention, global releases of mercury are expected to rise, or at least not be reduced from their current levels. The European Commission and many European Union (EU) Member States were leading advocates for the Convention and active participants in the negotiations. With the negotiations concluded and the Convention signed by the EU, the EU is preparing for becoming a party to the Convention. This study was commissioned by the European Commission to inform that process. Its objectives were to: - Assist Commission Services by identifying measures that would need to be taken at EU level in order to comply with the provisions of the Minamata Convention; - Assess the impacts of such measures, where needed, in view of internal procedures requiring an impact assessment for proposing new EU legislation, or amendments to existing legislation; - Maximise synergies in follow-up actions for the implementation of the Convention in view of relevant existing EU legislation by integrating the review of the Mercury Export Ban Regulation in the assessment. The European Commission contracted ICF International, working with COWI, BiPRO and Garrigues Ambiental, to carry out the work.