NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE STOCKHOLM CONVENTION ON PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS.

POPs National strategy shall be based on the political decision and realization of a number of measures in various spheres with the purpose of protection of human health and environment from POPs. The main principles of POPs national policy shall be as follows: (a) fulfillment of the obligations under Stockholm Convention are a part of general international obligations of Ukraine in the sphere of management of chemical substances. Relations as well as working platform shall be set between the Stockholm Convention, Aarhus Protocol, the Basel Convention, the Rotterdam Convention and other appropriate international conventions. Policy, strategy, and national and branch programs for environment protection shall be modernized in such the way that they reflect POPs priority and other issues of management of hazardous and toxic substances. They shall identify potential impact by POPs for human health and environment, and state clearly priority actions on the basis of analysis of expenses and profit. Flexible mechanisms to ensure, if necessary, possibility of their timely and efficient correction and updating shall be part of these documents.
National strategy in accordance to the Stockholm Convention shall foresee: (a) prohibition of manufacture and use (except PCBs in equipment), elimination of import and export of POPs chemicals listed in Annexes A and B with modification of national legislation; (b) establishment of a schedule to phase out the use of PCBs in equipment according to Annex A, Part II(a) of the Stockholm Convention and totally ban these PCBs by 2005; (c) implementation of systematic measures for reduction of exposure and risk from use of PCBs-containing equipment according to the Annex A, part II(b) of the Stockholm Convention; (d) prohibition of recovery for reuse in other equipment of PCBs-containing liquids according to the Stockholm Convention requirements Annex A, part II(d) by amendments of legislation and establishing environmentally sound waste of management liquids and equipment contaminated PCBs no later than 2028; (e) identification of the PCBs content in other the energy equipment and articles and management thereof until 2025; (f) evaluation of the national options for specific exceptions according to the Stockholm Convention requirements after establishing of Register of specific exceptions; (g) further investigation of sources and current management options regarding releases of chemicals listed in Annex C in order to prepare relevant Action Plan; (h) identification of BAT and BEP for every particular industry sources and introduction of BAT and BEP for all new sources; (i) promotion of measures to achieve POPs releases reduction; (j) management of OP stockpiles and wastes in environmentally sound manner, following international standards and guidelines; (k) establishment of a schedule PCBs-containing stockpiles and wastes in environmentally sound manner, starting since the completion of the inventory process; (l) prohibition of disposal operations of POPs wastes listed in Annexes A, B, and C that may lead to recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct reuse or alternative uses by amendments of legislation; (m) development of a strategy for identification and remediation of the contaminated sites by chemicals listed in Annexes A, B, and C in environmentally sound manner; (n) realization of the measures for implementation of Communication strategy and establishing ways for information exchange among stakeholders; (o) implementation of measures for promoting POPs awareness among the public, decision makers and stakeholders on the basis of Communication strategy; (p) carrying out scientific researches aimed at the solution of POPs problem; (q) monitoring system development focused on human health and the environment protection; and (r) implementation of technical assistance programs for the purpose to fulfill obligations under Stockholm Convention with promoting of potential international investments and transfer of technology.
Determination of residual amounts of pesticides has been carried out in accordance with generally accepted methods (Methods for determination of micro amounts of pesticides in foodstuff, fodders, and environment). 6 methods for performing measurements are concerned with determination of organochlorine POPs pesticides (in foodstuff and raw materials), 1 of them is concerned with PCBs determination, and 1 – for PAHs. Institutions and enterprises of the State Sanitary and Epidemic Service perform monitoring of content of chemical substances including POPs in soil, water of surface waterbodies that of centralized and non-centralized water supply, air of closed rooms and settlements, and foodstuffs in order to state cause-and-effect relation between level of sickness rate of the population and environmental factors.