National Implementation Plan for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

This updated National Implementation Plan for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2017) (2017 NIP) has been developed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in close collaboration with the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), Northern Ireland and other relevant Government Departments and Agencies. The Stockholm Convention currently focuses on reducing and eliminating releases of 26 POPs. These include the "existing POPs" (the POPs before 2013) and those added to annexes A and C of the Convention in 2013 and 2015, the "new POPs". The purpose of this 2017 NIP is to provide an update on "existing POPs" and should be read in conjunction with the 2007 and 2013 NIPs. The "new POPs" are covered in detail in this NIP.
Regarding the "existing POPS": 1) Pesticides: all pesticides listed in the Convention have been banned in the UK long time ago. Only Lindane (banned in 2002) and endosulfan (banned in the EU as of 2006 27 EC/777/2006). 2) Industrial chemicals: the NIP provides an overview of those ‘existing POPs’ (added to the Convention before 2013) which are the most relevant to the UK for continued emissions and need for emission control, these are: Hexachlorobenzene (HCB); Pentachlorobenzene (PCBz); Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); Dioxins and furans; Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (tetra-, penta-, hexa- and hepta- BDEs); Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (tetra-, penta-, hexa- and hepta- BDEs); Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOS-F); Lindane and isomers of technical Hexachlorocyclohexane (alpha- and beta-HCH).
POPs regulated from 2013 (“new POPs”). 1) Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD): HBCDD is not manufactured in the UK and is no longer imported. Under the REACH Regulation the continued use of HBCDD has been controlled through the authorisation process so that only specific applications are permitted (i.e. insulation board) and produced/supplied by those manufacturers/importers that have an authorisation in place for such goods. Viable alternatives to HBCDD are available and have been since 2012. For those goods already ‘in-use’, particularly within the housing market, at present there are some controls in place to manage the end-of-life and waste aspects. 2) Pentachlorophenol (PCP) its salts and esters: restrictions on the use of PCP entered into force in the EU in 1991 and a ban was placed with respect to the use of PCP as a synthesising or processing agent in industrial processes (including use as a wood preservative) under the Directive 1999/51/EC. Further restrictions on the use of PCP in the UK entered into force in 2008 under the REACH Annex XVII. 3) Hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD): although HCBD is no longer used in manufacturing processes and does not occur naturally, it is unintentionally released from certain chemical processes, including the production of chlorinated hydrocarbons, in particular carbon trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, and electrolytic manufacture of magnesium. 4) 3.3.4 Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs): Any stockpiles of PCN within di-electric equipment will have been subject to the same regulations and controls as PCBs.
Controls on unintentionally produced POPs can be found under Annex 3. These source categories are regulated through one or a combination of several regulations, depending on their potential to pollute. The UK 2007 NIP (Annexes 5A) provided detail about how these applied for each sector. The 2017 NIP also provides an overview of the measures and controls on diffuse sources, food legislation on dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls, control of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls in animal feed.