Countries agree to new mercury rules

Following UN talks in Geneva, more than 140 countries have agreed on legally binding measures which aim to reduce mercury pollution.

Mercury can be released into the environment through a number of industrial processes including mining, metal and cement production and the burning of fossil fuels. It can also cause serious harm to human health and is known to permanently damage the nervous system. In addition, given that data recently published by the UN shows that mercury pollution is on the rise in developing nations, the agreement could not have come at a better time. 

Achum Steiner, the UNs Environmental Programme executive, said, "After complex and often all night sessions here in Geneva, nations have today laid the foundations for a global response to a pollutant whose notoriety has been recognised for well over a century."

The rules, known as the Minamata Convention, will open for nations to sign at a conference later in the year. They will regulate a number of areas, including the:

• supply and trade in mercury;
• use of mercury in products and industrial processes;
• measures to be taken to reduce emissions from artisanal and small-scale gold mining;
• measures to be taken to reduce emissions from power plants and metal production facilities.

For more information, see:

• Regulation (EC) 1102/2008, on the banning of exports of metallic mercury and certain mercury compounds and mixtures and the safe storage of metallic mercury;

• Mercury Export and Data (Enforcement) Regulations SI 2010/265.