Progress to date
Until 1997, the following progress was made:
Institutionalisation of the programme
On March 18, 1996, a Working Group consisting of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia was established and Bulgaria was appointed to chair the Working Group. The Chairman reviewed options for obtaining secretariat services and international technical and policy expertise and requested that the Regional Environmental Center provides these services. A Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Environment, Bulgaria and the Regional Environmental Center was signed on September 27, 1996. To support providing the secretariat services, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has approved a financial assistance of USD 150,000 to the Regional Environmental Center.
Meeting of the Working Group
In accordance with the draft Program Outline, a meeting of the Working Group took place on February 12-13, 1997 in Szentendre, Hungary. The meeting was attended by members of the Working Group representing Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Western governments and international institutions were represented by Denmark, Germany, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the World Bank. A Work Plan 1997-1998 has been developed and approved by the Working Group and endorsed by the participating representatives of Western governments and international institutions. The Working Group was suggested to start implementing the Work Plan immediately.
Regional Workshop to Phase Out Lead in Gasoline
A Workshop on phaseout of lead in gasoline was held on June 24-26, 1997 in Bourgas, Bulgaria with participants from five Working Group member countries, three Western countries and three other CEE countries. The workshop covered the following topics:
- Health aspects as seen by U.S. experts;
- Pan-European process of phasing out leaded gasoline and cooperation with the UNECE Task Force to Phase Out Lead, chaired by Denmark;
- Car fleet study presented by Danish Technology Institute;
- Technologic, administrative and economic aspects of phasing out lead in gasoline - case studies from Norway, Slovakia and USA;
- Phasing out lead in CEE- status report on Sofia Initiative Working Group members;
- Preparation of draft phaseout schedules for Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia;
- Experience sharing with other countries from the region, including: Albania, the Czech Republic and Russian Federation;
- Visit to the largest Bulgaria refinery Neftochim.
Country Status Reports
In order to obtain a comprehensive overview of the situation in the Working Group member countries, a questionnaire was prepared with respect to phaseout lead in gasoline. This questionnaire was filled out by the participating countries and presented for the purposes of the pan-European study on phase out of gasoline. Poland later declined its participation in this part of the programme for internal reasons. A separate questionnaires was later developed and filled out to provide a comprehensive overview of the situation in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, with respect to reducing of SOx and particulate emissions. Results of the questionnaires for lead phaseout were compiled in a Country Status Report. A separate Country Status Report is under development for SOx and particulate emissions.
