Stockholm Convention | 22 July 2021 | European Union Implementation Plan for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

Preface - This document presents the fourth revised and updated European Union (Union) implementation plan required by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (“POPs”), of which the European Union is a Party. This document also details the work undertaken by the Union towards the Protocol to the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) on POPs1 and Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council (“POPs Regulation”)2 , which replaces Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council3 . The implementation plan sets out the Union's regulatory framework for POPs and persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) substances, and what have been identified as the key challenges facing the Union within Part I (Party Baseline). Part II subsequently sets out the Union’s response to these key challenges and what actions need to be undertaken to help achieve the overall aims of protecting human health and the environment from exposure to POPs.