Science-Based Lawmaking by Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou

Author:Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030214173
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

This type of language is very rare among the international environmental legal instruments.67 However, the obligation of the Commission to take full account of the recommendations and advice of the Scientific Committee is a lex imperfecta. The provision does not provide for any consequences that will follow in the event that the Commission departs from the recommendations and advice. Neither is there any official written testament of a conflict or even an exchange of arguments regarding the appropriate or not implementation of this provision, so that an analyst could make some safe conclusions about the width of the meaning of this obligation. Research on the documentation provided by its official website and other online sources was fruitless. It needs to be completed with additional research in situ and interviews with the administrators and experts working with the treaty-specific organs of these two conventions.

Another case in which the signatory States to an agreement are obliged to ask for and follow the advice of an expert body is the 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (the “London Dumping Convention”—“LDC”).68 Differently from the case of the CCAMLR, in the case of the London Dumping Convention the expert body to give the advice is not a body established by or functioning under its auspices; rather it is an independent inter-governmental organization, namely the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Under the London Dumping Convention, the IAEA’s responsibilities are twofold: first, it has to define high-level radioactive waste that is prohibited from being dumped, and second to make recommendations for the dumping of other radioactive waste.

The London Dumping Convention defines dumping as the deliberate disposal of waste from ships and aircraft (art. III (1)). The different types of “waste” are divided into three different categories. The first category consists of substances listed in Annex I: the “black list”. These include organophalogen compounds, mercury, cadmium, oil, plastics and high-level radioactive wastes defined by the IAEA as unsuitable for dumping. The dumping of black listed substances is prohibited under all circumstances (art. IV(1)). The second category of waste is listed in Annex II: the “grey list”. It comprises less noxious substances including arsenic, lead, copper, zinc, organosilicon compounds, cyanides, fluorides, and pesticides, scrap metal and radioactive matter not included in Annex I. The dumping of such substances is permitted only if the dumping entity obtains a special permit prior to dumping from the national authorities of a Contracting Party whose waters would be affected.69 In issuing a permit for the dumping of radioactive waste, the Parties must take full account of the recommendations of the IAEA.70

The IAEA had set up a series of scientific meetings and also had requested the scientific group GESAMP (Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution) to advise it on suitable models for calculating concentrations of radionuclides above which sea-dumping would be prohibited. In general, the IAEA used models for calculation and other data provided by the GESAMP, and made a considerable effort to improve the sound scientific basis of the definitions and recommendations.

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