Mercury: Aligning EU legislation with Minamata

Although mercury use has declined significantly in recent decades, mercury released into the air, or water, or the soil, remains a serious threat to human health and the environment. In February 2016, the Commission put forward a legislative proposal intended to align European Union (EU) legislation with the United Nation's Minamata Convention on mercury signed in 2013. First-reading negotiations with the Council delivered a compromise, which now awaits a vote in the March II plenary.