1. Introduction

Under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), Parties are to develop and endeavour to implement an action plan taking into account the obligations set out under Article 5 of the Convention, namely, measures to reduce or eliminate releases from unintentional production of POPs.

The Convention has defined four persistent organic pollutants to be reduced and ultimately eliminated from anthropogenic sources in which these substances are unintentionally formed and released:

• polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD, also referred to as dioxins),
• polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF, also referred to as furans);
• hexachlorobenzene (HCB); and
• polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB).

This report, Canada's National Action Plan (NAP) on Unintentionally Produced Persistent Organic Pollutants (UPOPs), forms part of Canada's National Implementation Plan for POPs.

As a first report, the NAP presents information on releases of unintentionally produced POPs, laws and policies, and strategies that Canada has adopted in its domestic programs to reduce and virtually eliminate unintentionally produced POPs. Current actions focus on reducing releases from priority sources as a step towards the goal of ultimate elimination while continuing to gather information on other less well defined sources.

The objective of this document is to review Canada's plans for meeting the specific obligations outlined under Article 5 of the Convention.