Updated National Implementation Plan on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

In Lithuania (like in all the European Union) it is prohibited to manufacture, place on the market and use plant protection products containing POPs listed in the Stockholm Convention. Unused pesticides have been stored for many years, thus problem of their safe storage and pollution of the territories around the storage depots emerged. The storage depots were found throughout Lithuania on former sites of collective farms next to lakes and rivers, in vulnerable places from the environmental pollution point of view. Such places were identified as potential sources of pollution that may cause danger for human health and the environment. In order to protect the environment and human health from potential dangers, thorough eco-geological (soil and groundwater) investigations were performed in sites likely to be contaminated by pesticides and the pollutants (aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, HCB, heptachor, HCH) were identified in the investigated sites. On the bases of the results of these investigations the corresponding measures for the cleaning up the territories contaminated by pesticides are taken.
In Lithuania some single cases occur (one of them in Utena in 2014), when stockpiles of hazardous chemicals, including POPs are found in private territories. As mentioned above, these cases are unique and therefore not predictable. The clean-up of such territories is held by the personal funds of the owners of territories. The database established by State Plant Service under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania does not contain the data on registered plant protection products containing POPs as active ingredient. Non-registered plant protection products cannot be placed on the Lithuanian market.
The State Food and Veterinary Service conducts the programs for monitoring food contamination and the state control of pesticides, mycotoxin, acrylamide and furan residues in food. The purpose of this monitoring is to assess whether pesticide residues in food products that are placed on the Lithuanian market or imported to Lithuania do not exceed MAC, as set in Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 February 2005 on Maximum Residue Levels of Pesticides in or on Food and Feed of Plant and Animal Origin. The data provided by the State Food and Veterinary Service reveal that there were not detected any POPs pesticides in food products during 2008-2014. The State Food and Veterinary Service performs the monitoring of chemical substance residues (including POPs) in food. In order to estimate whether food quality satisfies the requirements of legal acts and does not pose risk for human health, the monitoring is being implemented in accordance with the annual monitoring plans. The State Food and Veterinary Service is performing the monitoring of Baltic Sea fish, intended for consumer consumption, for PCDDs and dioxin-type PCBs annually since 2004.
On acceding to the Stockholm Convention, Lithuania did not register for specific exemptions regarding production and use of the initial POPs for which exemption provisions exist. In Lithuania alternatives for POPs in many industrial processes are successfully used. In accordance with the provisions on the acceptable purposes of the Stockholm Convention, in Lithuania it is allowed to use the following POPs substances: PFOS, its derivatives and PFOS-F and also articles containing POPs-BDEs to be recycled. These uses are allowed in Lithuania as in the Member State of the European Union while the European Union has registered these POPs substances in the registers of acceptable purposes and specific exemptions. Lithuania has no intentions to apply for exemptions regarding production and use of the new POPs substances (listed in the Annexes of Stockholm Conventions by COP–4, COP–5, COP–6 Decisions).
The information on POPs substances was widely communicated to the society in 2005–2015. The various publications developed in 2005–2010 and dedicated for different interested groups (for the public, potential possessors of equipment polluted with PCB, enterprises that may potentially emit dioxins and furans into the environment, specialists of enforcement/control institutions) have been distributed on different events (seminars, workshops, etc.).