National Implementation Plan for the Management of Persistent Organic Pollutants of Dominica.

The National Implementation Plan for the Management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (NIP) lays down actions to protect human health and the environment from Persistent Organic Pollutants to establish a system for the environmentally-sound management of Persistent Organic Pollutants and other hazardous materials and hazardous wastes, pesticides and related substances, various industrial chemical substances, ozone-depleting substances and chemical weapons. The timeframe of this NIP is 3 years covering the period between 2006 and 2010.
The legal framework will be established regarding the management of Persistent Organic Pollutants and other hazardous materials and hazardous wastes, pesticides and related substances, various industrial chemical substances, ozone-depleting substances and chemical weapons. The new act will issue appropriate regulations, assign enforcement responsibilities and provide for a system of enforcement and punishment for failure to comply with published regulations. Furthermore, the duties and responsibilities of the current Pesticides Control Board will be merged into a new Hazardous Materials and Hazardous Wastes Management Board. The import, manufacturing, sale, use and/or distribution of eight Persistent Organic Pollutants will be banned ensure none of these eight pesticides enter Dominica. The storage, handling and disposal of pesticides at the level of the importers, local suppliers and users, specifically the farmers, will be monitored by the Pesticides Control Board. The agriculture extension officers will provide information on handling, storage and safety methods for POPs pesticides to farmers. The current Crop and Food Testing Laboratory will be expanded to properly extract all forms of pesticides from soils, sediments, food stuffs, forest products and fish for the purposes of subsequent testing.Pesticides wil be properly labelled and precautions will be taken to reduce the risk of contamination of food and water supply.
The import, manufacturing, sale and/or distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls or any equipment or products containing such chemical compounds will be banned. The Hazardous Materials and Hazardous Wastes Management Board will be authorized to issue special permits for the import of small quantities of these substances to be used in testing or research and development. Special regulatory licensing requirements will be imposed for the import, manufacturing, sale, use and/or distribution of the pesticide commonly known as DDT. In the event of a malarial mosquito outbreak, other pesticides will first be used and DDT will be permitted to be used under Ministry of Health direction only as a last resort. Each use will be subject to a separate application for permit to use. Alternative products will be promoted to the Persistent Organic Pollutant pesticides through research and development and information/awareness campaigns. Moreover, the import, manufacturing, sale, use and/or distribution of 31 chemical substances (pesticides and industrial chemicals) listed as Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention and not currently listed in Annexes of the Stockholm Convention will be banned. The United Nations Global Harmonized System will be adopted to identify and define all hazardous materials, hazardous wastes and other chemical substances. In order to actively promote the use of cleaner production technologies and methods, the movement of hazardous and other wastes will be reduced, illegal traffic in hazardous wastes will be prevented and monitored, and institutional and technical capabilities will be improved. Integrated life-cycle approach will be promoted through careful management of the generation, storage, transport, treatment, reuse, recycling and disposal of all hazardous materials and wastes. The levy will be imposed on all pesticides on the basis of a charge per individual container. This levy will be maintained in a separate trust fund by the Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation and 50% of the levy will be given to the person returning any pesticide container. The management of ozone depleting substances will be strengthened and the proper handling and removal of ozone depleting substances will be ensured.