NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN OF STOCKHOLM CONVENTION ON PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS.

By signing and ratifying the Stockholm Convention, Romania committed itself to the effective implementation of the Convention in order to protect human health and the environment against negative effects of POPs. Although is still a very difficult and unstable economic situation not only nationally but globally, Romania it is committed to identify the modalities on how to provide the required financial resources need for the implementation as well as to undertake efforts to attract external funding to cover the incremental costs of the implementation. Romania will continue to work actively to raise the level of protection and minimize the environmental and health impacts of POPs, nationally as well as in international fora.
The overall objective of the NIP is to protect human health and the environment from POPs negative effects. According with the obligations under the Convention have been identified four specific objectives: (a) banning the production and use of POPs substances (Annex A of the Stockholm Convention); (b) restricting the use of POPs substances (Annex B of the Stockholm Convention; (c) reducing unintentional POPs substances included in Annex C of the Stockholm Convention; and (d) reducing or eliminating the waste and POPs containing waste stockpiles.
Key objectives: (a) elimination of brominated diphenyl ethers from the waste stream; (b) risk reduction for perfluorooctanic sulfonic acid (PFOS) with its salts and perfluorooctanic sulphonyl fluoride (PFOS-F); (c) elimination of PCBs containing equipment; (d) reduction of unintentional emissions of POPs; (e) improvement of environmental protection performance in agriculture; (f) remediation of POPs contaminated soils (including soils with historical pollution); (g) information and public awareness; and (h) research and development.
The objective is to eliminate brominated diphenyl ethers from the recycling streams as swiftly as possible. To meet this objective, the principal recommendation is to separate articles containing brominated diphenyl ethers as soon as possible before recycling. Failure to do so will inevitably result in wider human and environmental contamination and the dispersal of brominated diphenyl ethers into matrices from which recovery is not technically or economically feasible and in the loss of the long-term credibility of recycling. Initially, the main focus should be on developed countries handling primary flame-retarded articles containing higher concentrations of brominated diphenyl ethers and attention should be paid to identification and treatment of brominated diphenyl ethers in articles for both domestic use and for export. To meet this objective, the principal recommendation is to separate articles containing brominated diphenyl ethers as soon as possible before recycling. Failure to do so will inevitably result in wider human and environmental contamination and the dispersal of brominated diphenyl ethers into matrices from which recovery is not technically or economically feasible and in the loss of the long-term credibility of recycling.
The latest achievements in the field of analitical chemistry enabled the determination of low Perfluorooctanic sulphonyl fluoridePFOS concentrations (levels under ppb) in food, wild organisms and humans.