The E-PRTR Regulation was set up with the following main aims:
- to encourage improvements in environmental performance by industry;
- to provide public access to information on releases of pollutants and off-site transfers of pollutants and waste;
- to inform the public about important pollutant emissions due to certain installations;
- to track trends in emissions;
- to demonstrate progress in pollution reduction;
- to monitor compliance with certain international agreements;
- to enable setting up of environmental priorities; and
- to evaluate environmental progress.
As far as the public is concerned, the E-PRTR is useful because it will continue to improve awareness of environmental pollution and enhance transparency and comparability. Members of the public, in particular, in accordance with the Aarhus Convention, will be granted unrestricted access to the information contained in the E-PRTR.
Malta’s data for 2007, 2008 and 2009 has already been submitted to the European Commission. Data for 2007 and 2008 is already available on the E-PRTR website, while data for 2009 will be made available by end of April 2011. In addition, Malta submitted data for 2004 under EPER, which is available here.