The eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 8) to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, which opened 30 years to the day after the largest chemical accident in history, reviewed progress made in implementing the Convention, discussed its future development and coverage of chemical substances with health and environmental risks, and considered opening the Convention to accession by states beyond the region.
5 December 2014: The eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 8) to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, which opened 30 years to the day after the largest chemical accident in history, reviewed progress made in implementing the Convention, discussed its future development and coverage of chemical substances with health and environmental risks, and considered opening the Convention to accession by states beyond the region.
The chemical accident in Bhopal, India, on 3 December 1984 killed thousands of people and injured hundreds of thousands, due to the release of highly toxic gas, the effects of which continue today, UNECE notes.
Among chemical accidents in the EU region, UNECE highlights: a dioxin leak in 1976 near Seveso, Italy, triggering the development of EU legislation to control accidents involving dangerous substances; and contaminated waste water from the Sandoz chemical plant in Schweizerhalle, Switzerland, ten years later, which created a 70-kilometer toxic plume in the Rhine River, also affecting France, Germany and the Netherlands, and causing the death of half a million fish. As a transboundary environmental disaster, it was a precursor for the adoption of the UNECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, in 1992, according to UNECE.
Industrial Accidents COP 8 met on 3-5 December 2014, in Geneva, Switzerland, and addressed: achievements made in strengthening industrial safety in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia; supporting countries in transition to prevent, prepare for and respond to industrial accidents; and enhancing industrial safety in the UNECE region.
The COP adopted, inter alia: a revised Annex I to the Convention on hazardous substances for the purposes of defining hazardous activities; and decisions on which issues to prepare elements for guidance by the COP, comprising compliance and land-use planning. [UNECE Press Release] [Conference Website]