OSPAR - Priority PBTs & EDs & equivalent concern
Chemical Lists of Priority Action & Possible Concern
Oslo-Paris Convention (OSPAR)
List of Chemicals for Priority Action &
List of Substances of Possible Concern
The OSPAR Commission, originally formed in 1972 to control dumping into the North Sea, is a consortium of 15 European countries and the European community whose mission is to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. OSPAR has expanded over the years to include land based and production sources of potential pollution to the North-East Atlantic. The 1992 OSPAR Convention (OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) is the current instrument guiding international cooperation to meet these objectives.
OSPAR had conducted considerable work to identify chemicals of concern to the North-East Atlantic under the Hazardous Substances Strategy (HASEC). The first of these is a list of chemicals and chemical groups of possible concern which consists mainly of PBT chemicals with some endocrine disrupters and other toxic chemicals "of equivalent concern" included. The OSPAR List of Substances of Possible Concern was adopted in 2002 and identified over 300 chemicals or groups. It is a dynamic working list and is regularly revised as new information becomes available. This has resulted in substances being added or removed from the original list. These are substances that might merit action by OSPAR due to their persistency, liability to bioaccumulate and toxicity or other equivalent concern. Fact sheets have been prepared for each of the substances of possible concern. These compile available information on e.g. intrinsic properties, exposure and legislation as explained in the "glossary on the content of the fact sheets"
OSPAR further identified a shorter list of 50 of these chemicals or chemical groups which require priority action (OSPAR List of Chemicals for Priority Action. The difference between the Priority list and the Concern list is based upon risk analysis of likelihood of damage to the marine environment and political analysis of whether the chemical is adequately regulated by other mechanisms. From a hazard analysis perspective there is no difference between being listed on the possible Concern or Priority Action list.
A chemical can be removed from either list on assessment of new data. The substances on the OSPAR List of Substances of Possible Concern have been identified by a worst case screening of a number of databases with experimental data on P, B and T. However, when experimental data are not available, substances have been identified by employing different models (QSARs: Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships) which estimate these values on the basis of chemical structure. The screening is not exhaustive as not all possible data sources have been available or because of limitations in the models employed. Furthermore, some substances may falsely have been selected due to data errors or outliers. OSPAR is continually reviewing the substances on the List to identify those substances which are of concern to the marine environment, and to which therefore the commitments of the Hazardous Substances Strategy should apply, but which are not covered adequately by the EC framework or some other international forum.
The criteria used for determining which chemicals are included under 'equivalent concern' are described in the “Guidance on How to Apply the Safety Net Procedure for the Inclusion of Substances in the List of Substances of Possible Concern”
- Occurrence in the marine environment (a contributing but not sufficient factor)
- Metals
- Substances with a high log Kow (>6)
- Groups of substances (structural similarity to PBT chemical)
- Endocrine Disruptors
Note: As these chemicals are screened based upon their likelihood to cause harm to the marine environment (the North-East Atlantic), they are not used in evaluating IAQ & user toxicity.