HELCOM Recommendation 31E/3

Adopted 20 May 2010,
having regard to Article 20, Paragraph 1 b) of the Helsinki Convention

CADMIUM IN FERTILIZERS

THE COMMISSION,

RECALLING Article 5 of the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1992 (Helsinki Convention), in which the Contracting Parties undertake to prevent and eliminate pollution of the Baltic Sea Area caused by harmful substances from all sources, according to the provisions of this Convention and, to this end, to implement the procedures and measures of Annex I,

RECALLING ALSO the Ministerial Communiqué 1998, calling for implementation of HELCOM Recommendation 19/5 on the HELCOM Objective with regard to Hazardous Substances, which is to prevent pollution of the Convention Area by continuously reducing discharges, emissions and losses of hazardous substances, with the ultimate aim of concentrations in the environment near background values for naturally occurring substances and close to zero for man-made synthetic substances, until 2020,

RECALLING FURTHER, that HELCOM Recommendation 19/5 selects cadmium as a substance for priority action,

RECALLING ALSO FURTHER, the commitment in Baltic Sea Action Plan to assess the possibility of introducing restrictions for cadmium in fertilisers,

BEING MINDFUL of the harm caused by pollution from cadmium in the Baltic Sea, and the usefulness of taking adequate action,

RECOMMENDS to the Governments of the Contracting States to the Helsinki Convention:

a)      to set a limit value for the content of cadmium in fertilizer applied in the Baltic Sea catchment area

b)      that this recommendation only should apply for fertilizers with a content of phosphorous more than 1 %,

RECOMMENDS ALSO that this Recommendation should be reviewed by the Ministerial Meeting in 2013 taking into account the developments in other international fora,

RECOMMENDS FURTHER that the action taken by the Contracting Parties in accordance with this Recommendation should be reported to the Commission tri-annually.