Mercury

FORM FOR GRANTING OR DENYING WRITTEN CONSENT, PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 4(1) OF REGULATION (EU) 2017/852, TO THE IMPORT OF MERCURY OR OF THE MIXTURES OF MERCURY LISTED IN ANNEX I TO THAT REGULATION

FORM TO BE USED BY COUNTRIES THAT ARE NOT PARTIES TO THE MINAMATA CONVENTION ON MERCURY INTENDING TO EXPORT MERCURY, WHETHER IN PURE FORM OR IN MIXTURES, TO A MEMBER STATE FOR THE PROVISION OF CERTIFICATION ON THE SOURCE OF MERCURY

Deadlines for reporting under Regulation (EC) No 1102/2008 of the European Parliament and of the council of 22 October 2008 on the banning of exports of metallic mercury and certain mercury compounds and mixtures and the safe storage of metallic mercury:

By 1 July 2012importers, exporters and operators of activities referred to:

  • metallic mercury that is no longer used in the chlor-alkali industry;
  • metallic mercury gained from the cleaning of natural gas;
  • metallic mercury gained from non-ferrous mining and smelting operations; and
  • metallic mercury extracted from cinnabar ore in the Community as from 15 March 2011.

Shall send to the Commission and to the competent authorities the following data:

  • volumes, prices, originating country and destination country as well as the intended use of metallic mercury entering the Community;
  •  volumes, originating country and destination country of metallic mercury considered as waste that is traded crossborder within the Community.

For the first time by 4 December 2009, and thereafter each year by 31 May, the companies concerned in the industry sectors that gain mercury from the cleaning of natural gas or as a by-product from non-ferrous mining and smelting operations shall send the following data related to mercury gained in a given year to the Commission and the competent authority of the Member State concerned:

  • amount of mercury gained;
  • amount of mercury sent to individual temporary or permanent storage facilities as well as location and contact details of these facilities.

Regulation (EC) No 1102/2008 of the European Parliament and of the council of 22 October 2008 on the banning of exports of metallic mercury and certain mercury compounds and mixtures and the safe storage of metallic mercury
The export of metallic mercury, cinnabar ore, mercury chloride, mercury oxide and mixtures of metallic mercury with other substances, including alloys of mercury, with a mercury concentration of at least 95 % weight by weight from the Community shall be prohibited from 15 March 2011. The export should be banned in order to significantly reduce the global mercury supply. The export ban will result in considerable amounts of surplus mercury in the Community that should be prevented from re-entering the market. The safe storage within the Community of this mercury should be ensured.
On January 28, 2005 the Commission adopted a Communication to the Council and European Parliament on Community Strategy Concerning Mercury. The objective of strategy is to reduce mercury levels to which humans are exposed, and the concentrations of mercury in the environment. In response to the Strategy Council in its resolution of 24 June 2005 stresses the need for an international legally binding instrument on mercury.
Of the XXV-th session of the UNEP Governing Council has adopted Decision 25 / 5, which convened Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee with a mandate to prepare a global legally binding instrument on mercury, which began its work in 2010 and should be completed by 27 – th regular session of the Governing Council of UNEP / Global Ministerial Forum on the Environment in 2013, the new instrument to be signed at a diplomatic conference in Japan in mid-2013.
Export and storage of mercury

Regulation (EC) No 1102/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 on the banning of exports of metallic mercury and certain mercury compounds and mixtures and the safe storage of metallic mercury