POP Convention

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is continuously updated. The eleventh Conference of the Parties took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 1–12, 2023, under the motto "Accelerating action: targets for the sound management of chemicals and waste." With the addition of the three new substances methoxychlor, dechloran plus, and UV-328, the POP list now includes 34 chemicals.

The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

POPs are chemicals with toxic properties that accumulate through the food chain and accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and animals. Furthermore, due to their low degradability, they persist for long periods in various environmental media (soil, air, water). One of their most dangerous properties is their volatility, which means these substances can be transported over long distances in the atmosphere.

POPs-Booklet

POP atmospheric measurements

Accordingly, they accumulate at the poles, but also in the European Alps due to their sink function, which was examined in the course of the INTERREG project “MONARPOP (Monitoring Network in the Alpine Region for Persistent Organic Pollutants)” in cooperation with regions in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia. After its completion in 2007, POP atmosphere measurements were continuously pursued at several Alpine peaks (Sonnblick (Austria), Zugspitze (Bavaria) and Weissfluhjoch (Switzerland)).

Stockholm Convention

January 2008 saw the announcement of Annex G to the Stockholm Convention with regard to the settlement of disputes. At the 9th Conference of the Parties in May 2019, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA; and related substances) and dicofol were added to the Convention. At the 10th Conference of the Parties, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts, and PFHxS-related compounds were added.

• POP Convention in German and English

• Global Environment Facility: Chemicals Waste in Englisch

National Implementation Plan

The second revision of the National Implementation Plan was published in 2012.

Since April 27, 2022, the Austrian NIP 2021 on POPs (as amended by the 9th Conference of the Parties) has been available on the website of the Stockholm Convention on POPs.

• Global Environment Facility (GEF)
• Monitoring Network in the Alpine Region for persistent and other organic pollutants (MONARPOP) (in German only)
• Nationaler Aktionsplan (Umweltbundesamt) (in German only)
• POPMON (AGES, Wissen aktuell)
• Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (United Nation UN)
• Stockholmer Convention (POP)