1.Article 3 shall not apply in the case of:
(a)a substance used for laboratory-scale research or as a reference standard;
(b)a substance present as an unintentional trace contaminant, as specified in the relevant entries of Annex I or II, in substances, mixtures or articles.
2.For a substance added to Annex I or II after 15 July 2019, Article 3 shall not apply for a six-month period if that substance is present in articles produced before or on the date that this Regulation becomes applicable to that substance.
Article 3 shall not apply in the case of a substance present in articles already in use before or on the date that this Regulation or Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 became applicable to that substance, whichever date came first.
[F1Immediately upon becoming aware of articles referred to in the first and second subparagraphs, the competent authority shall inform the Secretary of State and—
where the competent authority is SEPA, the Scottish Ministers;
where the competent authority is NRW, the Welsh Ministers.
Whenever the Secretary of State is so informed or otherwise learns of such articles, the Secretary of State shall, where appropriate, notify the Secretariat of the Convention accordingly without further delay.]
[F23.Where a substance is listed in Part A of Annex 1 or in Part A of Annex 2 and a competent authority wishes to permit, until the deadline specified in the relevant Annex, the manufacturing and use of that substance as a closed-system site-limited intermediate, that competent authority shall notify the Secretary of State, who shall in turn notify the Secretariat of the Convention.
3A.The notification by the Secretary of State to the Secretariat of the Convention may be made only if the following conditions are satisfied:
(a)an annotation has, following the request of a competent authority or on the appropriate authority’s own initiative, been entered in the relevant Annex in accordance with paragraph 3C;
(b)the manufacturer has demonstrated to the competent authority that the manufacturing process will transform the substance into one or more other substances that do not exhibit the characteristics of a POP, ensuring that it is rigorously contained by technical means during its whole lifecycle;
(c)the manufacturer has demonstrated to the competent authority that the substance is a closed-system site-limited intermediate within the meaning of Article 2(11) and that it is not expected that either humans or the environment will be exposed to any significant quantities of the substance during its production and use; and
(d)the manufacturer has informed the competent authority of the details of actual or estimated total manufacturing and use of the substance concerned and the nature of the closed-system site-limited process, specifying the amount of any non-transformed and unintentional trace contamination by any POP starting material in the final substance, mixture or article.
3B.Within one month of submission of the notification to the Secretariat of the Convention, the Secretary of State shall communicate the notification to DAERA, the Scottish Ministers and the Welsh Ministers.
3C.The appropriate authority may by regulations—
(a)amend Annex 1 or 2 by entering annotations expressly to the effect that manufacturing and use, as a closed-system site-limited intermediate, of a substance listed in Part A of the relevant Annex may be permitted; and
(b)amend the deadlines in such annotations in cases where, following a repeat notification by the Secretary of State to the Secretariat of the Convention, express or tacit consent is issued under the Convention for the continued manufacturing and use of the substance for another period.]
4.Waste consisting of, containing or contaminated by any substance listed in Annex IV is regulated by Article 7.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in Art. 4(2) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1358), regs. 2(2), 11(2)
F2Art. 4(3)-(3C) substituted for Art. 4(3) (31.12.2020) by The Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1358), regs. 2(2), 11(3)