ERMA New Zealand, in conjunction with the Ministry for the Environment, is calling for public submissions on proposals to amend Schedules 1AA and 2A of the HSNO Act.
These Schedules give effect to New Zealand’s ratification of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (the Convention), and need to be updated to reflect a number of additions to the Convention. Schedule 1AA reproduces the text of the Convention, and needs to be amended to include Annex G and the nine new Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) listed in the Convention. Schedule 2A contains those POPs prohibited or restricted under the Convention AND accepted by New Zealand. Thus, any decision made by New Zealand to accept or not, some or all of the new POPs, and make amendments to Schedule 2A, may carry regulatory implications for some persons.
The nine new POPs are:
- Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane
- Beta hexachlorocyclohexane
- Chlordecone
- Hexabromobiphenyl
- Pentachlorobenzene
- Hexabromodiphenyl ether (hexa-BDE) & hepta-BDE (including those in commercial octa-BDE), and
- Tetra-BDE and penta-BDE (including those in commercial penta-BDE)
- Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF)
- Lindane
As New Zealand is a Party to the Convention, the additions to the Convention will take effect from 26 August 2010 unless New Zealand makes a formal notice of non-acceptance of any of the new listings to the Convention Secretariat before that. Additionally, New Zealand must notify the Secretariat if some allowable uses of these POPs are to remain.
The attached discussion paper identifies the issues identified with updating Schedules 1AA and 2A. Proposals and options are presented for updating these schedules and for identifying possible uses which may remain. Your feedback on this is important as it will enable ERMA New Zealand to report to the Minister for the Environment on the proposals to amend the schedules. Please take this opportunity to have your say.
The discussion paper will be available for public comment from 22 March 2010 until 21 April 2010.
Discussion Paper Updating Schedules 1AA and 2A of the HSNO Act DOC (284KB), PDF (408KB)
Written feedback is preferred and we encourage you to make your submissions by writing your comments in the spaces provided in the document. This should then be forwarded by email, mail or fax to:
Attention Jessica Clark
C/- ERMA New Zealand
PO Box 131
Wellington 6140
Fax: +64 4 9140433
Email:
jessica.clark@ermanz.govt.nz
For any queries on the content of this discussion paper, please contact:
Cameron Smith, Policy Analyst, ERMA New Zealand, on +64 4 9162426 or at
cameron.smith@ermanz.govt.nz