Polish national legal framework Polish national legal framework regarding mercury and other regarding mercury and other

heavy metals (Cd and Pb)heavy metals (Cd and Pb)

dr Agnieszka DudraBureau for Chemical Substances and Preparations

Poland

Bucharest, 6th November 2009

LEGAL BASISLEGAL BASIS

The legal basis for the operation of the Inspector and Bureau is the AAct of 11 January 2001 on chemical substances and preparationsct of 11 January 2001 on chemical substances and preparations.

The crucial amendment has been published in February 2009.

.

CCompetentompetent A Authorities in Polanduthorities in Poland

InspectorInspector for Chemical Substances and Preparations for Chemical Substances and Preparations has become REACH Competent Authority, in order to cooperate with the European Commission, European Chemicals Agency and other EU Member States in the implementation of the REACH Regulation.

The Bureau was formed when Polish legislation was being harmonized with the acquis communautaire and has been since this time the Polish competent authority (CA) for chemicals (REACH, CLP, detergents).

Bureau for CBureau for Chemical Substances and Preparations hemical Substances and Preparations provides all the necessary support for the Inspector in performing his duties under chemical law.

• The Bureau is subordinate to the Ministry of Health.

• The Ministry of Health is responsible for drafting legislation.

• Ministry of Economy is responsible for REACH Committee.

Community and Polish legal acts

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 552/2009 of 22 June 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) as regards Annex XVII.

Polish statement

Chemicals management should ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment, including the promotion of alternatives for dangerous substances.

The requirements on application, restrictions or total prohibition of mercury, cadmium and lead in products and production processes are set by the following legal acts that have resulted from transposition of the relevant Community provisions.

Community and Polish legal actsDirective 94/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste.

Act of 11 May 2001 on packaging and packaging waste.

Regulation of Minister of the Environment of 30 December 2002 on the contents of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium in packaging.

Regulation Minister of the Environment of 8 April 2003 on the method to determine the total content of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium in packaging.

Community and Polish legal acts

Council Directive 84/500/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to ceramic articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs.

Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 2006/66/EC of 6 September 2006 on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators and repealing on 26 September 2006 Directive 91/157/EE.

Regulation of Ministry of Health of 15 January 2008 on the inventory of substances in articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs.

Regulation of Minister of Economy of 17 October 2002 on the specific requirements to be complied with batteries and accumulators manufactured and placed on the market.

Community and Polish legal acts

Commission Decision of 27 June 2002 amending Annex II of Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on end-of-life vehicles.

Act of 20 January 2005 on the recycling of the end of live vehicles.

Regulation of Minister of Economy and Labour of 4 October 2005 on the list of materials, equipment and parts of vehicles which could contain lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium.

Community and Polish legal acts

Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (so called RoHS Directive).

Toys Safety Directive 88/378/EEC.

Regulation of Minister of Economy of 27 March 2007 on the specific requirements on use of certain substances in electrical and electronic equipment that could have negative environmental impact.

Regulation of Minister of Economy of 14 November 2003 on the essential requirements for toys.

Community and Polish legal acts

Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption.

Commission Directive 2003/40/EC establishing the list, concentration limits and labelling requirements for the constituents of natural mineral waters and the conditions for using ozone-enriched air for the treatment of natural mineral waters and spring waters.

Regulation of Minister of Health of 29 March 2007 on the quality of water intended for human consumption.

Regulation of Minister of Health of 29 April 2004 on the requirements for natural mineral waters, natural spring waters and table waters.

Regulation of Minister of Economy of 19 March 2007 on the labour safety and hygiene when handling mercury and its compounds.

Community and Polish legal acts

Directive 2004/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air.

Council Directive1999/30/EC of 22 April 1999 relating to limit values for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter and lead in ambient air .

Act of 26 April 2007 on amendments in the Act on Environmental Protection Law.

Regulation of Minister of the Environment of 3 March 2008 on the levels of certain substances in the air.

Regulation of Minister of the Environment of 8 February 2008 on the specific requirements to be met by the air protection programmes.

Article 67 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH) provides that substances, mixtures or articles may not be manufactured, placed on the market or used unless they comply with the conditions of any restrictions laid down in their regard in Annex XVII.

Manufacturing Conditions

16. Lead carbonates:(a) Neutral anhydrous carbonate (PbCO3)

CAS No 598-63-0EC No 209-943-4

(b) Trilead-bis(carbonate)-dihydroxide 2Pb CO3-Pb(OH)2

CAS No 1319-46-6EC No 215-290-6

17. Lead sulphates:(a) PbSO4 CAS No 7446-14-2EC No 231-198-9

(b) Pbx SO4 CAS No 15739-80-7EC No 239-831-0

Shall not be placed on the market, or used, as substances or in mixtures, where the substance or mixture is intended for use as paint.

However, Member States may, in accordance with the provisions of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 13 on the use of white lead and sulphates of lead in paint, permit the use on their territory of the substance or mixture for the restoration and maintenance of works of art and historic buildings and their interiors.

18. Mercury compounds Shall not be placed on the market, or used, as substances or in mixtures where the substance or mixture is intended for use (examples):

(a) to prevent the fouling by micro‑organisms, plants or animals of:

– the hulls of boats,

(b) in the preservation of wood;

(….)

18a. Mercury

CAS No 7439-97-6EC No 231-106-7

1. Shall not be placed on the market:

(a) in fever thermometers;

(b) in other measuring devices intended for sale to the general public (such as manometers, barometers, sphygmomanometers, thermometers other than fever thermometers).

2. The restriction in paragraph 1 shall not apply to measuring devices that were in use in the Community before 3 April 2009. However Member States may restrict or prohibit the placing on the market of such measuring devices.

Review of the availability of reliable safer alternatives mercury-containing sphygmos in Poland

Aneroid and electronic instruments are reliable substitutes to mercury manometers (simple operation, user does not need to be involved in the measurement process).

Polish Goverment has not conducted an analysis of costs connected with replacement of mercury sphygmomanometers to alternatives.

The complete replacement of mercury sphygmomanometers by non-mercury alternatives is economically feasible.

The complete replacement can be expected till 2010.

23. Cadmium

CAS No 7440-43-9EC No 231-152-8and its compounds

1. Shall not be used to give colour to articles manufactured from the following substances and mixtures:

(a) polyvinyl chloride (PVC) [3904 10] [3904 21] [3904 22]

(…)

polypropylene (PP) [3902 10]

(b) paints [3208] [3209]

However, if the paints have a high zinc content, their residual concentration of cadmium shall be as low as possible and shall at in event be less than 0,1% by weight.

23. Cadmium

CAS No 7440-43-9EC No 231-152-8and its compounds

In any case, whatever their use or intended final purpose, articles or components of articles manufactured from the substances and mixtures listed above coloured with cadmium shall not be placed on the market if their cadmium content (expressed as Cd metal) is greater than 0,01 % by weight of the plastic material.

2. However, paragraph 1 shall not apply to articles to be coloured for safety reasons.

Poland participates in the review conducted by RPA on behalf of the European Commission, Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry in regard to „Socio-economic impacts of a potential update of the restrictions on the marketing and use of cadmium”; (cadmium in brazing, jewellery and PVC).

Poland participates in the review conducted by Afsset in regard to „Lead and its compounds in jewellery”.

Packaging

Act on packaging and packaging waste imposes obligations on manufacturers, importers and those making inter-Community purchase of packaging, to limit the quantities of and negative environmental impacts from the substances used to manufacture packaging, in such a way that the maximum combined total quantity of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium content in packaging does not

exceed 100 mg/kg.

Packaging

Regulation of Minister of the Environment on the contents of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium in packaging sets out the types of packaging exempted from the requirement to comply with the 100 mg/kg level of the maximum total combined amount of, lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium.

Articles intended to come into contact with foodstuff

Regulation of Ministry of Health on the inventory of substances in articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs.

The quantities of lead and cadmium transferred from ceramic articles shall not exceed the limits laid down below:

1. For articles which cannot be filled and articles which can be filled, the internal depth of which, measured from the lowest point to the horizontal plane passing through the upper rim, does not exceed 25 mm: Pb – 0,8 mg/dm2; Cd – 0,07 mg/dm2;

2. For all other articles which can be filled: Pb – 4 mg/dm2; Cd – 0,3 mg/dm2;

3. For cooking ware; packaging and storage vessels having a capacity of more than three litres: Pb – 1,5 mg/dm2; Cd – 0,1 mg/dm2.

Batteries and accumulators

Regulation of Minister of Economy on the specific requirements to be complied with batteries and accumulators manufactured and placed on the market

For batteries and accumulators manufactured and placed on the market individually or installed in equipment, Regulation sets out the permissible value of the mercury content up to 0,0005% level by weight; this provision does not apply only to button cells and sets of such cells being batteries (their mercury content must not be higher than 2% by weight).

Batteries and accumulators

The maximum permissible levels of lead and cadmium content in batteries and accumulators manufactured and placed on the market individually, or installed in equipment; the maximum permissible levels of cadmium is 0,025% by weight, and 0,4%, by weight, for lead.

Vehicles

Act on the recycling of the end of live vehicles in its stipulates that the material, equipment and parts of vehicles should not contain lead, cadmium, mercury or hexavalent chromium.

Regulation of Minister of Economy and Labour on the list of materials, equipment and parts of vehicles which could contain lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium.

The Regulation allows for the circumstances under which these metals could be contained up-to 0,1% in definite materials, equipment and parts of vehicles if it is necessary to achieve required technical characteristics of these equipment and parts.

Regulation of Minister of Economy on the specific requirements on use of certain substances in electrical and electronic equipment that could have negative environmental impact.

The Regulation imposes the ban on the use of mercury in electrical and electronic equipment, filament tubes and electric lighting fittings for household use (this provision does not apply to spare parts of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market before 1 July 2006).

Moreover, in the elements of electrical and electronic equipment that are homogenous material the mercury content shall not be more than 0,1% by weight.

Electrical and electronic equipment

The operator who places its equipment on the market is held responsible for securing that neither lead and cadmium nor their compounds are contained in electrical and electronic equipment and in bulbs and electric-light fittings designated for use in households, however this ban does not apply to spare parts of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market until 1 July 2006.

The lead content in elements in electrical and electronic equipment being homogeneous material shall be not more than 0,1 % by weight, and cadmium content shall be not more than 0,01 % by weight.

Electrical and electronic equipment

Regulation of Minister of Economy of on the essential requirements for toys. In particular, for the protection of children's health, bioavailabilityresulting from the use of toys must not, as an objective, exceed thefollowing levels per day:0,6 μg for cadmium, 0,7 μg for lead,0,5 μg for mercury,or such other values as may be laid down for these or other substancesin other legal acts based on scientific evidence.

Toys

Regulation of Minister of Health on the quality of water intended for human consumption. Threshold limit value in water:cadmium – 0,005 mg/l, lead – 0,025 mg/l (to 1st January 2013); 0,010 mg/l (from 1st January 2013)mercury – 0,001 mg/l.

Drinking Water

Regulation of Minister of Health on the requirements for natural mineral waters, natural spring waters and table waters. Constituents naturally present in natural mineral waters and maximum limits which, if exceeded, may pose a risk to public health:cadmium – 0,003 mg/l, lead – 0,010 mg/l mercury – 0,001 mg/l.

Drinking Water

Regulation of Minister of the Environment on the levels of certain substances in the air.

Target values for the total content of cadmium in the PM10 fraction averaged over a calendar year – 5 ng/m3. The date of achievement for cadmium target values is 2013. Target values for the total content of lead in the PM10 fraction averaged over a calendar year – 0,5 g/m3. The date of achievement for lead target values is 2005.

Environment

Regulation of Minister of the Environment on the specific requirements to be met by the air protection programmes. The objectives of this Regulation shall be to establish a target value for the concentration of substances: arsenic, cadmium, nickel and benzo(a)pyrene and lead in ambient air so as to avoid, prevent or reduce harmful effects of arsenic, cadmium, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and lead on human health and the environment as a whole.

Environment

The National Strategy on Reduction of Heavy Metals Emissions is the official document considered a strategy for action in the field of reduction of the national emissions of heavy metals. With regard to mercury, this document focuses particularly on reduction of atmospheric emission of this pollutant that is considered the activity most important for Poland in this field.

As far as mercury emissions from industrial installations are concerned, they are covered by the reporting obligations under the Polish National Pollutant Release and Transfer Register being a part of the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register. The Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection have to manage the Register.

Environment

Monitoring of gaseous and particulate air emissions and of waste water discharges into waters or land is managed in Poland by the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection (GIOŚ) under the National Environmental Monitoring Scheme.

Moreover, data sets on cadmium and lead emissions are prepared by the National Administrator of the Emission Allowance Trading (KASHUE) and then forwarded to the European Monitoring Emission Program (EMEP) and the European Pollutants Emission Register (EPER) of the European Commission for the annual reporting purpose.

Environment

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