Switzerland has transposed several ‘Decisions’ from the Stockholm Convention into its national legislation on persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The revision will become effective on December 3, 2020.
In October 2020, Switzerland published RO 2020/3916 under Official Collection 121 of October 6, 2020 (in French, German and Italian) to revise its legislation on POPs (POP Convention, RS 0.814.03, in French, German and Italian). The latest amendment transposes three ‘Decisions’ from the Stockholm Convention on POP chemicals – a global treaty to protect human health and the environmental from chemicals that persist in the environment for long periods. These ‘Decisions’ are:
- Decision SC-9/4 ‘Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF)’
- Decision SC-9/11 ‘Listing of dicofol’
- Decision SC-9/12 ‘Listing of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds
Details of Decisions SC-9/4, SC-9/11 and 9/12 in English can be found in the Stockholm Convention website.
The latest revision contains important changes to Annexes A and B of the Swiss legislation on POPs (POP Convention, RS 0.814.03). This includes, inter alia, the following:
- Adding dicofol to Part I of Annex A (‘Elimination’) with no specific exemptions for its production and use
- Adding PFOA, its salts and PFOA-related compounds to Part I on Annex A (‘Elimination’) with certain specific exemptions for their production and use
- Replacing the entry for PFOS, its salts and PFOSF in Part I to Annex B (‘Restriction’) with information on acceptable purposes and specific exemptions for their production and use.
According to RO 2020/3916, the latest revision will become effective on December 3, 2020.
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