The OSPAR Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic

The "OSPAR List of Substances of Possible Concern"

OSPAR has developed a selection and prioritisation mechanism to identify those substances which are of possible concern to the marine environment, particularly due to their intrinsic hazardous properties of toxicity (T), persistence (P) and potential to bioaccumulate (B). It is these "PBT" substances which have potential to harm marine ecosystems and biota if they reach the marine environment in sufficient amounts.

The selection and prioritisation process and the specific cut-off criteria which have been used are described on the OSPAR website (www.ospar.org)

In June 2002, the OSPAR Commission decided that the List of Possible Concern should be published. The list is now available on the OSPAR website and can be searched and interrogated for a number of different parameters.

The main reasons for publishing this list is to enable the general public to see how the list has been developed, and to provide an opportunity for any errors or omissions in the data to be put right. OSPAR's goal is to keep this information up-to-date and accurate. The intention is to encourage an interactive process which will enable errors to be corrected and omissions to be rectified.

OSPAR is keen to get more good quality data with regard to the intrinsic properties (P, B and T) of the substances on the list, or for other substances with similar PBT properties (in particular experimentally derived information). OSPAR also needs information with regard to the production and use of these substances, and information on their occurrence in the environment.

Anyone with information which would enable OSPAR to update its List of Substances of Possible Concern is invited to contact the OSPAR Secretariat secretariat@ospar.org who will advise them further regarding the submission of relevant information.