The VOC Protocol established international commitments to reduce volatile organic compound emissions to protect human health and ecosystems across national borders.
Key Facts
- Full protocol name
- VOC Protocol (Volatile Organic Compounds Protocol)
- Parent convention year
- 1979
- Date concluded
- 18 November 1991
- Location concluded
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Primary objective
- Control and reduction of VOC emissions and transboundary fluxes
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Growing scientific evidence in the 1970s and 1980s showed that volatile organic compounds contributed to transboundary air pollution, causing harm to human health and the environment across national borders. This prompted international efforts under the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution to address VOC emissions specifically.
On 18 November 1991, the VOC Protocol was concluded in Geneva, Switzerland, as a protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. It committed signatory states to control and reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds and their transboundary fluxes through binding international obligations.
The VOC Protocol provided a legal framework requiring participating nations to implement domestic measures reducing VOC emissions, contributing to broader efforts to limit ground-level ozone formation and other air quality problems that cross international boundaries, thereby supporting long-term environmental and public health goals in Europe and beyond.
Political Outcome
An international protocol was adopted obligating signatory states to control and reduce volatile organic compound emissions and their transboundary fluxes.