PRTR Protocol UNECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers
The Republic of Austria signed the UNECE Pollutant Release and Transfer Register on 21 May 2003 and ratified it on 23 March 2010.
So far (as of: 16 February 2021) 37 States and the European Community have signed the Protocol. The Protocol entered into force on 8 October 2009, for Austria on 21 June 2010 (Article 27, para. 1 and 3 of the PRTR Protocol). The first meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Protocol took place in Geneva, April 20-22, 2010 (more informationen on the UNECE website).
The third meeting of the parties to the Protocol was held in Budva, Montenegro, from September 11 to 15, 2017. The fourth meeting of the Parties is scheduled for October 21–22, 2021. In preparation for this meeting, an updated report on the implementation of the PRTR Protocol in Austria was prepared, among other things: Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (→ UNECE)
The Austrian Environmental Information Act (Umweltinformationsgesetz UIG) was amended by the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) amendment to the Environmental Information Act Federal Law Gazette I No 128/2009 in order to create the prerequisites for a national Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (national PRTR) ( → prtr.at). Moreover the Austrian data are fed into the European PRTR (→ prtr.ec.europa.eu).
By means of the national Pollution and Transfer Register the public access to data on pollution emissions and waste shipments from certain operational facilities shall be improved.