OSPAR Convention: Difference between revisions

The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic was opened for signature at the [[Minister (government)|Ministerial Meeting]] of the Oslo and Paris Commissions in [[Paris]] on September 22 September, 1992. The Convention has been signed and ratified by all of the Contracting Parties to the original Oslo or Paris Conventions ([[Belgium]], [[Denmark]], the European Community, [[Finland]],{{#tag:ref|Finland is not on the western coasts of Europe, but some of its rivers flow to the [[Barents Sea]], and historically it was involved in the efforts to control the dumping of [[hazardous waste]] in the [[Atlantic]] and the [[North Sea]].<ref name="about">[http://www.ospar.org/content/content.asp?menu=00010100000000_000000_000000 About OSPAR]</ref>}} [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Iceland]], [[Ireland]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Norway]], [[Portugal]], [[Spain]], [[Sweden]] and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]]) and by [[Luxembourg]]{{#tag:ref|Luxembourg and Switzerland are Contracting Parties due to their location within the catchments of the [[River Rhine]].<ref name="about"/>|name="Rhine"}} and [[Switzerland]].<ref name="Rhine"/> The OSPAR Convention entered into force on March 25 March, 1998, and replaced the Oslo and Paris Conventions, but decisions and other agreements adopted under those conventions remained applicable unless they are terminated by new measures adopted under the OSPAR Convention.