Rapid industrial development in several regions of the world has led to significant increases in production of chemicals and to growing numbers of industrial facilities which require chemicals as raw materials or intermediates. This has resulted in increased levels of chemical emissions to air, water and soil, as well as high volumes of hazardous waste generation. In many countries, governments and communities are not aware of these emissions and the associated risks to human health and the environment. As a result, several countries have introduced chemical emission inventories or Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR).

PRTRs are catalogues or databases of potentially harmful chemicals releases and transfers, including information on the nature and quantity of such releases and transfers to the air, water and land. The data for PRTRs can be collected from point sources of pollution, such as industrial facilities, as well as from diffuse sources, such as agricultural operations or transportation activities.

PRTRs make this information accessible for the public and all stakeholders, supporting the communities' right-to-know of environmental matters and providing important data to identify concern areas of pollution and to prepare environmental policies towards sound risk management.

Benefits of a PRTR

One of the reasons for the success of PRTR systems is that they entail benefits and possible uses for government, reporting industries and members of the public:

Benefits to Government

• Identification of who is generating potentially harmful chemical releases, what type of pollutants are being released, quantities of those releases, and to what media these pollutants are being released;
• Identification of geographic areas of concern;
• Facilitation of decisions on environmental management priorities;
• Facilitation of the measurement of national progress toward risk reduction and pollution prevention goals; and
• Monitoring enforcement of current regulation and fulfilling international reporting requirements under various international convention and agreements.

Benefits to Industry

• Identification of sources of lost revenue in their industrial processes;
• Implementation of improved chemical use controls and increased equipment efficiency;
• Incentive implementation of cleaner production schemes;
• Increase of competitiveness;
• Incentive transfer of technology within and among companies; and
• Serve as a catalyst for better communication and relations between plants and neighboring communities, establishing trust and confidence.

 Benefits to the Public

• Entitlement to know about potential risks from chemicals in their communities;
• Enhancement of the right to make informed choices and take appropriate actions regarding pollution;
• Incentive own measures of workers to protect themselves and their facilities from chemical-related accidents; and
• Increase public participation on environmental decision-making.

The International Policy Framework for PRTRs

Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration, as agreed by heads of states in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), provide specific references to the establishment of national emission inventories and the right of the public to access this information. Through Chapter 19 which addresses the environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals, Agenda 21 recommends governments and international organizations to improve databases and information systems on toxic chemicals, such as emission inventories programs, and to consider the adoption of community-right-to-know or other public information dissemination programs. Following Agenda 21, the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS) encouraged the development of PRTRs as mechanisms for achieving reduction of chemical risks and sustainable development.

In 1998, the UNECE Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was adopted. This convention strengthens the commitment of governments to be accountable and transparent towards communities, enhancing public participation and justice on environmental matters. As part of this Convention, a Protocol on PRTRs was adopted in 2003 and came into force in 2009. The Protocol follows the main objective of the Aarhus Convention on providing information to civil society, by establishing in Party countries reporting systems of pollutant releases and transfers and making this information available for everyone.

Following the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, developed a Plan of Implementation to achieve the main goals agreed during UNCED. The plan included specific actions to address the establishment of national information systems on chemicals and to ensure public participation on environmental matters. In 2005, an International PRTR Coordinating Group is established with the overall objective of improving coordination between international organizations, Governments and other interested parties in their ongoing and planned efforts related to the further development and implementation of PRTR systems.

Different multilateral environmental agreements include PRTRs as an important tool to achieve sound management of chemicals, such as the Strategic Approach on International Chemicals Management (SAICM), adopted by the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) on 2006. SAICM has as its overall objective the achievement of the sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle so that, by 2020, chemicals are produced and used in ways that minimize significant adverse impacts on human health and the environment (goal adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002). This approach includes the development of PRTRs as one of the main work areas in its Global Plan of Action. Also the Stockholm Convention has recently included in the Startup Guidance for the 9 new POPs (December 2010), considerations on PRTRs as a good example of an information system that could meet the goals of information exchange on POPs under the Convention.