The National Plan of the Republic of Belarus for the Implementation of its Obligations under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants for the period of 2007–2010 and until 2028.

The National Plan of the Republic of Belarus for the Implementation of its Obligations under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants for the period of 2007–2010 and until 2028 has been developed in order to define effective measures and concrete actions aimed at addressing the problem of persistent organic pollutants in the Republic of Belarus and to implement its obligations under this Convention.
Persistent organic pollutants are chemically durable organic compounds containing atoms of chlorine in their molecule. Persistent organic pollutants are primary products and by-products of chemical production and display such characteristics as high toxicity, potential for accumulation in the environment, humans and species, potential for long-range environmental transport through air, water and migratory species. Persistent organic pollutants, even in extremely low concentration, demonstrate genotoxic, immune toxic and cancer inducing effects, negatively affect reproductive function creating a tangible risk for the health of current and future generations. Protection of human health is one of the key priorities of the social policy in Belarus. In this regard, the activities aimed at minimization and prevention of the harmful impacts of persistent organic pollutants on human health and the environment are of particular importance.
Addressing the problem of persistent organic pollutants in Belarus is one of the essential preconditions for the realization of the constitutional right to protection of health and to friendly living environment.
The priorities of the national POPs management policy legalized in the National Plan and NIP include: (a) improvement of the Belarusian legislation, institutional and regulatory frameworks for the POPs management; (b) environmentally sound handling, storage and disposal of the existing POPs stockpiles and wastes containing persistent organic pollutants; (c) identification, assessment and priority clean-up of POPs contaminated sites and remediation of the affected environment; (d) development of the national analytical, technical and personnel capacity for monitoring and analytical control of persistent organic pollutants in the environment and health monitoring; (e) reduction and elimination of unintentional releases of persistent organic pollutants through the use of the best available techniques and the best environmental practices; and (f) limitation, regulation and control of productions and processes generating persistent organic pollutants.
Being a Party to the Stockholm Convention, the Republic of Belarus has assumed the following commitments relating to polychlorinated biphenyls: (a) eliminate the use of polychlorinated biphenyls by 2025; (b) ensure disposal of wastes containing polychlorinated biphenyls by 2028; (c) identify and to label equipment containing polychlorinated biphenyls; (d) identify wastes (substrata) having a polychlorinated biphenyls content above 50 mg/kg; (e) not use equipment containing polychlorinated biphenyls at the enterprises producing feed and food; (f) use only intact equipment; (g) ensure control of the use of equipment and prompt identification of the leakage of polychlorinated biphenyls; (h) not allow recovery of polychlorinated biphenyls; and (i) facilitate identification of the sites contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls and to take measures on environmentally sound remediation of soils.
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection has been designated as the National Focal Point for the exchange of information. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection has not yet defined the functions and tasks of the National Focal Point. Organization of collection and submission of information relevant to the measures on the implementation of the Convention is a responsibility of the Specialized Inspectorate for Waste Management Control; the mechanism of collection and submission of information has not been developed yet.
The Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Belarus is responsible for regulation of the processes relating to ensuring safety of the application of chemicals, crop protectants, raw materials, and technologies for human health; hygienic regulation and registration of chemicals and biological substances and articles thereof, raw materials, food products, and crop protectants; justification of the criteria for determining that chemicals are safe for human health; justification and establishment of the hygienic norms of the concentration of chemical substances in natural and industrial environment; social and hygienic monitoring. The Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus implements the government policy relating to safety transportation of hazardous goods, including POPs containing materials and wastes, by all means of transport; issues permit for cross-border transportation of hazardous chemicals including POPs. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Belarus performs registration of crop protectants and fertilizers, controls the quality of pesticides and their residues in products and raw food of vegetable origin; ensures compliance with safety requirements in the process of application and storage of pesticides and fertilizers. Given that the main dose of human exposure to persistent organic pollutants is formed by food products, the state sanitary control authorities of the Republic of Belarus undertake extensive monitoring of a number of chlororganic pesticides (DDT and its metabolites, aldrin, hexachlor, hexachlorbenzene) in domestically produced and imported foodstuffs. At this stage the primary objective of the laboratory monitoring is to maintain sanitary control of food safety. It is also needed to control the presence of other persistent organic pollutants including polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and furans in food products and drinking water. The findings reveal the presence of POPs in Belarus in various concentrations which, through the process of biomagnifications (accumulation in food chains) may damage biota and disturb biocenose.