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AS a follow activity to the United NConEandD (UNCED), the OECD was asked by its Member countries and the United Nations to prepare a guidance manuał for national governments considering establishing a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR). A PRTRprovides publicly accessible data about ąuantities of releases and/or transfers of a set of potentially harmful substances, the origin of these releases and transfers and their geographic distribution on a timely, regular periodic basis. Many OECD countries either have implemented a PRTR or intend to do so, e.g. Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom and the United States. The European Union intends to set up a PRTR in the near futurę. In addition, a number of other countries are examining whether to begin a PRTR programme, e.g. Egypt, South Africa and Hungary.
The OECD efforts began in 1993 when the Pollution Prevention and Control Group, which is composed of representatives of OECD Member countries, decided to lead an effort aimed at accelerating pollution prevention and reduction by examining improved mechanisms for compiling and publishing data about pollutant releases and transfers.
The Pollution Prevention and Control Group also decided that the OECD should perform this work in the context of multi-organisation implementation of Chapter 19 of UNCED Agenda 21. These organisations included the World Health Organisation, UN Emdronment Programme - International Register of Potentially Toxic Chemicals, UN Institute of Training and Research and the International Programme on Chemical Safety.

The entire process of establishing the PRTR system, its implementation and operation, should be transparent and objective.
The purpose of this Manuał is to provide information aimed primarily at national governments that may wish to consider implementing a PRTR system. The Manuał does not seek to prescribe a specific course of action; rather, it gives a set of options for how to implement the various principles underlying an effective PRTR system. Conditions within each country will dictate the precise details of how a specific national PRTR system will develop in practice. This Manuał is meant to provide a firm foundation rooted in the basie principles for whatever PRTR approach is deemed most useful by a national government.
The Manuał is organised along five main themes, including:
• Major issues in deciding whether to establish a PRTR;
• Formulating goals/objectives and a list of substances for a PRTR;
• Data handling and management issues;
• Making PRTR outeomes publicly accessible; and
• Implementing a fuli PRTR system.

– PRTR systems should provide data to support the identification and assessment of possible risks to humans and the environment by indicating sources and amounts of potentially harmful releases and transfers to all environmental media.
– The PRTR data should be used to promote prevention of pollution at the source, e.g. by encouraging implementation of cleaner technologies.
– National governments should use PRTR data to evaluate the progress of environmental policies and to assess to what extent national environmental goals are, or can be, achieved.
– In devising a PRTR system or when modifying existing systems, governments should consult with affected and interested parties to develop a set of goals and objectives for the system and to identify potential benefits and estimate costs to reporters, government and society as a whole.
– PRTR systems should cover an appropriate number of substances which may be potentially harmful to humans and/or the environment into which they are released or transferred.