The Rada passed a law on the abandonment of mercury

On May 29, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in its entirety draft Law No. 0199 “On Ukraine’s Accession to the Minamat Convention on Mercury.”

The purpose of the draft law is to give the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine consent to the binding for Ukraine of the Convention, which is aimed at limiting trade and phasing out the use of mercury. Termination of technological processes and  use of certain products with their content will contribute to the protection of human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and its compounds.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury was adopted in 2013. It is named after the city of Minamata in Japan, where almost 2,000 people were poisoned by mercury from industrial wastewater in the late 1950s.

The poisoning caused Minamata disease – a syndrome of impaired vision and hearing, and in severe cases – paralysis and impaired consciousness, the cause of which is poisoning by organic compounds of mercury.

The Convention provides for the phase-out of mercury:

• its further extraction is prohibited,
• bans the production, export and import of many products containing mercury (thermometers and devices for measuring pressure, certain types of batteries and fluorescent lamps, barometers, switches, relays, and even cosmetics).

Among other things, the implementation of the Law of Ukraine will allow the use of international instruments for the disposal of mercury and products containing it. As a party to the Convention, Ukraine will have access to the targeted resources of the Global Environmental Fund, and will also be able to receive technical and expert assistance.

Availability an accredited laboratory and material and technical base, the specialists of the Company “Center LTD” will help you measure the level of mercury in the air of the working area and in the water. Contact the phone number: +38 067 281 36 40. More about the service at the link: center-ltd.com.ua