Council Decision (EU) 2017/939

means gold mining conducted by individual miners or small enterprises with limited capital investment and production;

means most effective in achieving a high general level of protection of the environment as a whole;

means those techniques that are the most effective to prevent and, where that is not practicable, to reduce emissions and releases of mercury to air, water and land and the impact of such emissions and releases on the environment as a whole, taking into account economic and technical considerations for a given Party or a given facility within the territory of that Party.

means the application of the most appropriate combination of environmental control measures and strategies;

means a limit on the concentration, mass or emission rate of mercury or mercury compounds, often expressed as ‘total mercury’, emitted from a point source.

means emissions of mercury or mercury compounds to the atmosphere;

means any relevant source that is not a new source;

means elemental mercury (Hg(0), CAS No 7439-97-6);

means any substance consisting of atoms of mercury and one or more atoms of other chemical elements that can be separated into different components only by chemical reactions;

means mercury (I) chloride (known also as calomel), mercury (II) oxide, mercury (II) sulphate, mercury (II) nitrate, cinnabar and mercury sulphide.

means a product or product component that contains mercury or a mercury compound that was intentionally added;

means any relevant source within a category listed in Annex D, the construction or substantial modification of which is commenced at least one year after the date of:

means Parties present and casting an affirmative or negative vote at a meeting of the Parties;

means a State or regional economic integration organisation that has consented to be bound by this Convention and for which the Convention is in force;

means mining in which the principal material sought is mercury;

means an organisation constituted by sovereign States of a given region to which its member States have transferred competence in respect of matters governed by this Convention and which has been duly authorised, in accordance with its internal procedures, to sign, ratify, accept, approve or accede to this Convention;

means a limit on the concentration or mass of mercury or mercury compounds, often expressed as ‘total mercury’, released from a point source.

means releases of mercury or mercury compounds to land or water;

means a source falling within one of the source categories listed in Annex D.

means modification of a relevant source that results in a significant increase in releases, excluding any change in releases resulting from by-product recovery.

means technologies used, operational practices and the ways in which installations are designed, built, maintained, operated and decommissioned;

means any use by a Party of mercury or mercury compounds consistent with this Convention, including, but not limited to, uses consistent with Articles 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.