There are many clients and consumers of statistics on hazardous substances, the most important being the Swedish Government and Riksdag, the European Commission and the UN. Sweden’s reporting is mainly done in compliance with the E-PRTR Regulation and the Kiev Protocol (PRTR) to the Aarhus Convention.
The Aarhus Convention is concerned with public access to information and participation in decision-making in environmental matters. The Kiev Protocol commits Sweden to make data available to the public in the form of registers and databases accessible via the Internet. The Swedish Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) contains information about annual emissions of certain hazardous substances and waste transfers from large Swedish facilities.
Collecting information on hazardous substances
Some facilities report emission statistics to regulatory bodies. This is the case for all environmentally hazardous Swedish installations which require an operating permit under Chapter 9 of the Environmental Code and the IPPC Directive. Beginning in 2011, operators are required to submit the required information themselves over the Internet via the Swedish Portal for Environmental Reports (SMP).
The information submitted is used for international reporting and for progress monitoring of Sweden’s national environmental quality objectives, as well as for regulatory purposes.