On 15 January 2009, the Swedish government made a decision to ban mercury and articles that contain mercury. The ban will take effect on 1 June 2009.
Information in Swedish about the ban on the website of the Ministry of the Environment.
The ban implies that it will not be allowed to place mercury, or mercury compounds or preparations on the Swedish market; nor will it be allowed to use mercury in Sweden or professionally export mercury from Sweden.
It will not be allowed to place articles that contain mercury on the Swedísh market or professionally export articles containing mercury from Sweden. The ban on use does not apply to mercury-containing articles that have already been taken into use. However, it is not allowed to place such an article on the market or to export it from Sweden. Nor is it allowed to refill the article with new mercury.
The area of application will, thus, become wider than the present Swedish ban on mercury, which since the 1990s does not allow professional manufacture and sale of certain articles containing mercury, for example thermo-meters and other measuring instruments, and bans export of mercury.
The part of the new rules having a bearing on the export of waste will probably be changed before entering into effect on 1 June 2009, since the National Board of Trade has been commissioned by the Swedish government to notify a new proposal on the export of mercury waste to the European Commission.
Certain uses for which harmonised EC provisions apply are exempted. Light sources and other electrical and electronic articles, batteries and vehicles, for example. The Swedish Chemicals Agency´s (KemI) regulations will specify certain time-limited exemptions for analysis chemicals, certain instruments and equipment and certain amalgam use. KemI may also grant exemption in particular cases.
KemI Report 4/04: Mercury - Investigation of a general ban (PDF, 477 kB).
Limitations of mercury are necessary
Mercury is one of the most hazardous environmental toxins known and is a threat to the environment and human health. Notwithstanding the fact that Sweden for nearly 20 years has reduced emissions and use of mercury, the situation is still serious and environmental concentrations continue to increase. Sweden is dependent of other countries reducing releases since mercury can spread in the air and be transported far away from the source of release. Therefore, Sweden is active in work within the EU and in the UN to aim for a binding convention to limit releases on a global scale and Swedish experiences have proven valuable.
