OSCE supports seminar on application of Pollution Release Transfer Register in Kazakhstan

An OSCE-supported training seminar on the application of the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) for some 40 government officials and private sector and civil society representatives took place on 21 June in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The event is the first in a series of three seminars organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Nur-Sultan in partnership with the Centre for Co-operation for Sustainable Development. 

The participants learned from the OSCE-supported national experts about the requirements of the PRTR Protocol under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)’s Aarhus Convention and national environmental legislation. The activity also aimed to increase the capacity of industrial enterprises to provide up-to-date information on the release of pollutants and align emissions reporting with best OSCE participating States standards in line with Kazakhstan’s declared intention to ratify the protocol before the end of the year.

The PRTR Protocol to the Aarhus Convention was adopted in 2003, in Kyiv, Ukraine and is a legally binding instrument that requires parties to establish publicly accessible registers containing information on the release and transfer of pollutants.

The event will be followed by two workshop sessions in Karaganda and Shymkent later this year. The training seminar is part of the Programme Office’s longstanding efforts to promote international standards of the Aarhus Convention in Kazakhstan.