The OSPAR Acquis: Decisions, Recommendations & Agreements
The OSPAR Acquis - the Decisions, Recommendations and Other Agreements that constitute the accumulated body of OSPAR measures and actions
The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic ("OSPAR Convention") replaces the former Oslo and Paris Conventions.
Decisions, Recommendations and all Other Agreements adopted under those former Conventions continue to be applicable unless they are terminated by new measures adopted under the OSPAR Convention. Any Decisions, Recommendations and Other Agreements adopted under the Oslo and Paris Conventions that were considered to no longer apply under the OSPAR Convention were revoked by OSPAR Decision 98/1.
Maintaining the OSPAR Acquis
The latest list of Decisions, Recommendations and Other Agreements applicable within the framework of the OSPAR Convention is available here.
At its meeting in 2009, OSPAR agreed that there was no need for the OSPAR Commission to carry out annual reviews of this list. The Secretariat keeps the list up to date as new or amended measures are agreed. The OSPAR Committees review the applicability of any Decision, Recommendation or Other Agreement that relate to their area of responsibility and inform the meeting of the Commission as appropriate (at least every 5 years) of any that need to be updated, or that are proposed to be set aside. Those Decisions, Recommendations and Other Agreements that are set aside are indicated by blue shaded text in the List of Decisions, Recommendations and Agreements.
The Commission reviewed the acquis in 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2017/18.
Implementation of OSPAR measures
Under the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy (NEAES) 2010-2020 the OSPAR Commission was guided by its vision of a clean, healthy and biologically diverse North-East Atlantic Ocean, used sustainably. In seeking to deliver this vision the OSPAR Commission has harmonised policies and strategies and drawn up measures and actions to protect the marine environment. These are captured in the OSPAR Measures and Actions Programme (MAP), which maintains an overview of the implementation of the measures in the OSPAR aquis. This information is maintained in the OSPAR MAP Matrix.
In 2015 OSPAR published an overview of the ‘Existing OSPAR measures in support of MSFD programmes of measures’ (Publication 2015/665). This document provides a regional overview of OSPAR measures that support the achievement of good environmental status in marine waters under the EU MSFD.
OSPAR 2020 agreed a progress report on implementation of OSPAR measures in support of the review of North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy 2010-2020. The report builds on the information maintained in the OSPAR MAP Matrix.
Implementation successes
OSPAR’s measures and actions programme over the period 2010-2020 focused on:
- the development of measures for the protection and conservation of biodiversity identified for priority action with programmes of action adopted for 40 species and 16 habitats and 3 rounds of implementation reporting completed;
- consolidation of OSPAR’s network of marine protected areas, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction, which has resulted in 550 MPAs being nominated to the OSPAR MPA network, with annual implementation reporting through a data call to also maintain up to date information about the MPAs in an OSPAR MPA database;
- the establishment of a risk-based approach for the management of produced water discharges from the offshore oil and gas industry to complement the OSPAR harmonised mandatory control system for offshore chemicals and promote the shift towards a reduction in the use of more hazardous substances;
- the full implementation of the ban on the dumping or leaving in place of disused offshore installations;
- the full implementation of the measure on the application of the BAT and BEP in nuclear facilities have resulted in a reduction of discharges from the nuclear sector
- successfully phasing out all mercury cell chlor-alkali plants in the OSPAR Maritime Area as a result of its Contracting Parties fully implementing PARCOM Decision 90/3 on reducing atmospheric emissions from existing chlor-alkali plants;
- development and implementation of the Regional Action Plan on marine litter, including measures on fishing for litter and sustainability education programmes for fishers.
OSPAR has also maintained a watching brief on the measures being taken by other competent authorities in the fields of management of land-based sources of hazardous substances and nutrients, the management of fisheries and other human activities with the potential to impact biodiversity. Where needed OSPAR brought matters of importance to the attention of the relevant authorities.
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Found 86 Decs, Recs & Ags:
OSPAR HARPNUT Guideline 1: Framework and aproach of the harmonised quantification and reporting procedures for nutrients
Reference Number:
Agreement 2004-02a
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
OSPAR HARPNUT Guideline 4: Quantification and reporting of nitrogen and phosphorus discharges from waste water treatment plants and sewerage (revised in 2018)
Reference Number:
Agreement 2004-02d
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
OSPAR's Standard Implementation Reporting and Assessment Procedure. Update 2005
Reference Number:
Agreement 2003-23
Work Area(s):
Biodiversity, Human Activities, Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Offshore Industry, Radioactive Substances, Other
Procedure for the Development, Publication and Review of OSPAR Background Documents on Hazardous Substances Identified for Priority Action
Reference Number:
Agreement 2003-26
Work Area(s):
Offshore Industry, Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
Requirements for the submission of national comments (to ICES when submitting monitoring data (Replaces agreement 2001-9). Amended by ASMO 2007
Reference Number:
Agreement 2003-11
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other
Reporting Formats on Mercury Losses from the Chlor-Alkali Industry (replaces agreement 2000-04)
Reference Number:
Agreement 2003-05
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
Guidance on a common framework for the establishment of the monitoring strategies for each of the substances (or groups of substances) on the OSPAR List of Chemicals for Priority Action
Reference Number:
Agreement 2003-12
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
JAMP Guidelines on the Measurement of Atmospheric Inputs of PAHs. Update 2005
Reference Number:
Agreement 2003-08
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other
Common OSPAR/EU Approach on Risk Assessment Methodology for the Marine Environment
Reference Number:
Agreement 2003-20
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
Guidance on Input Trend Assessment and the Adjustment of Loads. Revision 2017
Reference Number:
Agreement 2003-09
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other
Further Guidance on the Role of Marine Risk Assessment
Reference Number:
Agreement 2002-19
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
CEMP Guidelines for Monitoring Contaminants in Sediments. Revised in 2018
Reference Number:
Agreement 2002-16
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other
JAMP Guidelines for the Estimation of Riverine PAH Inputs
Reference Number:
Agreement 2002-12
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other
CEMP Guidelines on Quality Assurance for Biological Monitoring in the OSPAR Area. Revised in 2018-19
Reference Number:
Agreement 2002-15
Work Area(s):
Biodiversity, Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other
OSPAR List of Substances of Possible Concern. Update 2007.
Reference Number:
Agreement 2002-17
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
Guidance on How to Apply the Safety Net Procedure for the Inclusion of Substances in the OSPAR List of Substances of Possible Concern
Reference Number:
Agreement 2002-10
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
Agreement on those parts of the OSPAR Maritime Area to which the Comprehensive Procedure will be applied
Reference Number:
Agreement 2001-05
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
Procedure for Publication of OSPAR Reports
Reference Number:
Agreement 2001-13
Work Area(s):
Biodiversity, Human Activities, Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Offshore Industry, Radioactive Substances, Other
Working Procedures for Workshops
Reference Number:
Agreement 2000-18
Work Area(s):
Biodiversity, Human Activities, Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Offshore Industry, Radioactive Substances, Other
Procedure for Committees to decide on issues of a technical or scientific nature and to adopt "other agreements" that have no budgetary consequences for OSPAR
Reference Number:
Agreement 2000-17
Work Area(s):
Biodiversity, Human Activities, Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Offshore Industry, Radioactive Substances, Other
Format and Procedures for Reporting Basic Information on National Monitoring Programmes in the Maritime Area. This measure has been "set aside" - see OSPAR 10/23/1, Annex 5
Adopted:
1999, Kingston upon Hull
Reference Number:
Agreement 1999-03
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other
CEMP Guidelines for Monitoring Contaminants in Biota. Revision 2018
Adopted:
1999, Kingston upon Hull
Reference Number:
Agreement 1999-02
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other
Memorandum of Understanding between European Environment Agency and OSPAR
Reference Number:
Agreement 1998-22
Work Area(s):
Biodiversity, Human Activities, Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Offshore Industry, Radioactive Substances, Other
JAMP Guidelines for the sampling and analysis of mercury in air and precipitation
Reference Number:
Agreement 1997-08
Work Area(s):
Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other
JAMP Guidelines for General Biological Effects Monitoring. Revised technical annexes 2007
Reference Number:
Agreement 1997-07
Work Area(s):
Biodiversity, Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication, Other