Inventory validation meeting in the North Macedonia

From the collected evidence these suggestions for further work (elements of action plans) 63 were proposed to be discussed in the prioritization procedure. They entail, among others continued and accelerated remediation of the HCH site at OHIS and old pesticide and mixed waste burial site at Polinica. For PCB, the action covers finalization of inventory of small transformers and the expectations are to find some 90 tonnes of PCB contaminated equipment. For newer POPs, and brominated flame retardants (BFR), the issue is linked to the transport sector (vehicles) and electric and electronic equipment and indoor equipment impregnated by BFR and also investigate further the construction sector. Minimization of releases of unintentionally produced POPs also remains among necessary activities as the inventoried releases do not decrease over last 15 years.

Second part of the meeting was dedicated to discussion on the prioritization of proposed activities in six small groups as a first step to feed into the prioritization procedure. The country will now move on to simultaneously work on the update of the National Implementation Plan and go through the prioritization procedure to identify the top priority activities for this revised plan. It is expected that the draft updated NIP will become available for comments in the end of September 2025.