Environment: European Union welcomes the signing of the Minamata Convention on Mercury
EU News 431/2013
IP/13/929
Brussels, 10 October 2013
Today Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for the Environment, and Lithuanian Environment Minister Valentinas Mazuronis signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury on behalf of the European Union. The ceremony, in the Japanese town of Kumamoto, was attended by representatives of more than one hundred governments from around the globe. The Convention is the first new multilateral environmental agreement to be signed for more than ten years.
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Next Steps
The Commission has already launched work to develop the EU ratification instrument and necessary EU implementing legislation and will run consultations on this in the course of 2014. The Convention was negotiated by 140 UN Member States, and they will now begin their own procedures for ratification.
Source and additional information:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-929_en.htm?locale=en