Policy
The Bonn Agreement has several levels of policy that govern its operation.
The Agreement Text
The text of the Agreement itself, originally signed in 1969 and regularly updated since, which outlines the legal basis for the organisation and its work. It stipulates the areas that the cooperation will cover and how Contracting Parties should act within the agreement in the case of pollution.
The consolidated text integrates the Bonn Agreement with subsequent amendments adopted by the Bonn Agreement in a single non-official document to facilitate documentation. Only the Bonn Agreement and the follow-up Agreements adopted by the Bonn Agreement are official documents and kept by the Federal Republic of Germany (Federal Foreign Office).
Bonn Agreement Strategic Action Plan
The Bonn Agreement Strategic Action Plan containes the practical actions to fulfil the Strategy of the Bonn Agreement. The BASAP is regularly updated to meet new and anticipated challenges to the Marine Environment.
Regional Priorities
The Bonn Agreement Contracting Parties have agreed to identify and annually review a list of Regional Priorities in the field of marine pollution by oil or other harmful substances. The list of identified Regional Priorities is maintained through a Bonn Agreement expert consultation mechanism, by considering the Bonn Agreement Strategic Action Plan 2019 - 2025 and its implementation, lessons learnt from incidents and exercises, knowledge gaps, and/or issues raised by Contracting Parties.
The Bonn Declaration
In 2019 the Bonn Agreement celebrated its 50 Anniversary with its second Ministerial Meeting. Ministers adopted the Bonn Declaration and the Bonn Agreement Strategic Action Plan 2019-2025. The new action plans includes expanding the scope of application of the Bonn Agreeement to include air pollution caused by shipping.
Ministers also agreed to the accession of Spain. An Observer nation since 2003, Spain became a Contracting Party and the Bay of Biscay was added to the Bonn Agreement Area.
