Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area 3

Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area

 

Article 15

Nature conservation and biodiversitv

The Contracting Parties shall individually and jointly take all
appropriate measures with respect to the Baltic Sea Area and its coastal
ecosystems influenced by the Baltic Sea to conserve natural habitats and
biological diversity and to protect ecological processes. Such measures shall
also be taken in order to ensure the sustainable use of natural resources
within the Baltic Sea Area. To this ends the Contracting Parties shall aim at
adopting subsequent instruments containing appropriate guidelines and
criteria.

Article l6

Reporting and exchange of information

1. The Contracting Parties shall report to the Commission at regular
intervals on:

(a) the legal, regulatory, or other measures taken for the
implementation of the provisions of this Convention, of
its Annexes and of recommendations adopted thereunder;

(b) the effectiveness of the measures taken to implement the
provisions referred to in subparagraph (a) of this
paragraph; and

(c) problems encountered in the implementation of the
provisions referred to in subparagraph (a) of this
paragraph.

2. On the request of a Contracting Party or of the Commission, the
Contracting Parties shall provide information on discharge permits, emission
data or data on environmental quality, as far an available.

Article 17

information to the public

1. The Contracting Parties shall ensure that information is made available
to the public on the condition of the Baltic Sea and the water in its
catchment area, measures taken or planned to be taken to prevent and eliminate
pollution and the effectiveness of those measures. For this purpose, the
Contracting Parties shall ensure that the following information is made
available to the public:

(a) permits issued and the conditions required to be met;

(b) results of water and effluent sampling carried out for
the purposes of monitoring and assessment, as well as
results of checking compliance with water-quality
objectives or permit conditions and

(c) water-quality objectives.

2. Each Contracting Party shall ensure that this information shall be
available to the public at all reasonable times and shall provide members of
the public with reasonable facilities for obtaining, on payment of reasonable
charges, copies of entries in its registers.

Article l8

Protection of information

1. The provisions of this Convention shall not affect the right or
obligation of any Contracting Party under its national law and applicable
supranational regulation to protect information related to intellectual
property including industrial and commercial secrecy or national security and
the confidentiality of personal data.

2. if a Contracting Party nevertheless decides to supply such protected
information to another Contracting Party, the Party receiving such protected
information shall respect the confidentiality of the information received and
the conditions under which it is supplied, and shall use that information only
for the purposes for which it was supplied.

Article 19

Commission

I. The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, referred to as “the
Commission”, is established for the purposes of this Convention.

2. The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, established
pursuant to the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the
Baltic Sea Area of 1974, shall be the Commission.

3. The chairmanship of the Commission shall be given to each Contracting
Party in turn in alphabetical order of the names of the Contracting Parties in
the English language. The Chairman shall serve for a period of two years, and
cannot during the period of chairmanship serve as a representative of the
Contracting Party holding the chairmanship.

Should the Chairman fail to complete his term, the Contracting Party
holding the chairmanship shall nominate a successor to remain in office until
the term of that Contracting Party expires.

4. Meetings of the Commission shall be hold at least once a year upon
convocation by the Chairman. Extraordinary meetings shall, upon the request
of any Contracting Party endorsed by another Contracting Party, be convened by
the Chairman to be hold as soon as possible, however, not later than ninety
days after the date of submission of the request.

S. Unless otherwise provided under this Convention, the Commission shall
take its decisions unanimously.

Article 20

The duties of the commission

1. The duties of the Commission shall be:

(a) to keep the implementation of this Convention under
continuous observation;

(b) to make recommendations on measures relating to the
purposes of this Convention;

(a) to keep under review the contents of this Convention
including its Annexes and to recommend to the Contracting
Parties such amendments to this Convention including its
Annexes as may be required including changes in the list
of substances and materials an well as the adoption of
new Annexes;

(d) to define pollution control criteria, objectives for the
reduction of pollution, and objectives concerning
measures particularly those described in Annex III;

(e) to promote in close cooperation with appropriate
governmental bodies, taking into consideration
subparagraph (f) of this article, additional measures to
protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea Area and
for this purpose:

(i) to receive, process, summarize and disseminate
relevant scientific, technological and
statistical information from available sources;
and

(ii) to promote scientific and technological
research; and

(f) to seek, when appropriate, the services of competent
regional and other International Organizations to
collaborate in scientific and technological research as
well as other relevant activities pertinent to the
objectives of this Convention.

2. The Commission may assume such other functions as it deems appropriate
to further the purposes of this Convention.

 

Conclusion

Notes

See Also

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

International Organizations.


Posted

in

, ,

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *