VERTIC’s National Implementation Measures (NIM) team has concluded its work on the European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centres of Excellence (EU CBRN CoE) Project 67.

VERTIC’s National Implementation Measures (NIM) team has concluded its work on the European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centres of Excellence (EU CBRN CoE) Project 67.

Since the start of the project in July 2018, VERTIC has worked with national experts in the project’s partner countries to collect their main laws and regulations with regard to CBRN waste management and to discuss legislative improvements. The Project 67 partner countries are Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine.

The legislative analyses are based on requirements in multilateral treaties relating to CBRN waste management, including the following:

  1. Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, and its 1995 Amendment;
  2. London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter and its 1996 Protocol;
  3. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants;
  4. Minamata Convention on Mercury;
  5. Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

In addition, the partner countries have international agreements in place with the EU, which require approximation of their national legislation with EU law. Relevant EU law such as EU Directive 2008/98/EC on Waste has therefore also been taken into account.

The results of the legislative analyses have been included in country reports, which consist not only of a legislative section, but also of sections on chemical waste management, biological waste management, and radioactive waste management. These have been written by experts from the partner countries and from the other organisations in the project’s Implementation Consortium.

The following organisations form the Project 67 Implementation Consortium:

  • Sustainable Criminal Justice Solutions Europe (SCJS Europe) – Belgium;
  • Cranfield University – UK;
  • International Security and Emergency Management Institute (ISEMI) – Slovakia;
  • Nuclear Decommissioning Company/Jadrová a vyraďovacia spoločnosť (JAVYS) – Slovakia;
  • Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry (MICHR) – Poland;
  • Public Health England (PHE, UK); and
  • VERTIC – UK.

In the final phase of the project, the Implementation Consortium and partner countries will work on the content and delivery of training and technical workshops concerning CBRN waste management.