Practice Of The Implementation Committee Under The Convention On Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution

Abstract

The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention) was concluded in 1979 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The Convention provides a framework within which the Contracting Parties can agree on specific regulations. To this end, the Executive Body was established to serve as the supreme body of the Convention. In 1997, the Executive Body established an Implementation Committee to review compliance with all the Protocols to the Convention.11 It developed the Committee's structure and functions in the light of experience already gained in operating such a committee under the Montreal Protocol and in furtherance of its own decision on compliance taken three years earlier when adopting the 1994 Sulphur Protocol. Despite the fact that the Convention and individual Protocols contain dispute settlement clauses, the Parties nevertheless recognized a need for, and the value of, a separate compliance mechanism. Keywords: compliance mechanism; Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution; dispute settlement; Implementation Committee; Montreal Protocol