Press Release

November 19, 2007
  • Health & Chemicals

Results of the First Meeting for UNEP Ad hoc Open-ended Working Group on Mercury, November 12-16.

The first meeting of the UNEP Ad hoc Open-ended Working Group on Mercury was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from November 12 to 16, 2007. This group was established by the UNEP Governing Council to review options for enhanced voluntary measures and new or existing international legal instruments in efforts for further international action to reduce risks posed by mercury.
Around 200 representatives including representatives from the States, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, participated in the meeting. Participants expressed their views on options of international legal instruments and voluntary approaches. The Working Group considered the specific response measures listed in the study for achieving strategic objectives under each of the priorities for reduction of risks posed by mercury releases, as set out in paragraph 19 of decision 24/3 IV. The Working Group also discussed content of the intercessional work by the Secretariat, to gather information necessary to move forward to the second meeting of the Working Group.

The results of the meeting will be reported to the UNEP Governing Council at its tenth special session, scheduled for February 2008. The working group will meet for its second meeting scheduled for September/October 2008, to conclude a final report and recommendations on the options for enhanced voluntary measures and new or existing international legal instruments to the UNEP Governing Council at its twenty-fifth regular session.

UNEP Mercury Programme(http://www.chem.unep.ch/mercury/)

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