A/HRC/30/40 safety information on hazardous substances is confidential. There is widespread recognition that health and safety information should not be confidential, and States have legally binding obligations to this end.28 43. The interpretation of what constitutes health and safety information varies. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants provides implicit and nonexhaustive guidance as to what constitutes health and safety information, by virtue of what is necessary to implement the Convention. Health and safety information necessary to implement the Convention includes: chemical identity, physical properties, information about the ability of the substance to travel across borders in wind and water, and evidence of adverse effects to human health29 such as cancer and other non-communicable diseases. In addition, the Convention compels the disclosure of information on the use of substances eligible for listing under the Convention, otherwise the use of such substances may be prohibited. 44. Secondly, emissions of hazardous substances into the environment and the unsound disposal of waste is public health information that should only in very rare circumstances be confidential. For example, Spain does not allow for emissions reported under its Pollutant Release and Transfer Register to be claimed as confidential.30 This information is necessary to assess the potential for human exposure to hazardous substances and wastes, inextricable from protecting human rights. 45. Recurring challenges to realizing the right to information in the context of hazardous substances are exceptions for commercial secrets. The refusal to disclose information because it would adversely affect the value of intellectual property or the confidentiality of commercial businesses or industrial information is not legitimate if it may hamper public health or the overall public interest.31 According to one Government’s self-assessment, the “current process for handling confidential business information requests is weighted toward the protection of industry information rather than public access”,32 contrary to the intent of the law. It is not legitimate to protect a competitive advantage of businesses that create risks to public health and other public interests. Under the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights the disclosure of certain types of health and safety information is unobjectionable “except where necessary to protect the public”.33 46. The Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters does allow for the protection of intellectual property and commercial information, but not if the information sought concerns emissions into the environment. In interpreting the supremacy of the public interest in information about emissions into the environment over confidentiality claims under the Convention, a General Court of the European Union held in 2013 that: 28 29 30 31 32 33 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, art. 9; and Minamata Convention on Mercury, art. 17. See also the Dubai Declaration on International Chemicals Management. Stockholm Convention, annex D, para. 1 (e) (i). Spanish Ministry of Environment, “First Spanish Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers Implementation Report” (December 2013–January 2014), p. 19, available from www.prtres.es/Data/images/20131216_EN_1erINFORMEP_PRTR_ESPANA.pdf. Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, arts. 7–8. Often used as an umbrella term, confidential business information may include trade secrets, which in some legal systems (mostly civil law) are not considered intellectual property. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Evaluation report (see footnote 18 above). Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, art. 39 (3). 11