The Convention

Danube River Protection Convention

The Danube River Protection Convention forms the overall legal instrument for co-operation on transboundary water management in the Danube River Basin. The Convention was signed on June 29 1994 in Sofia (Bulgaria) and came into force in 1998.

It aims to ensure that surface waters and groundwater within the Danube River Basin are managed and used sustainably and equitably.

The Convention on Co-operation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the River Danube (Danube River Protection Convention) forms the overall legal instrument for co-operation and transboundary water management in the Danube River Basin.

The Convention was signed on June 29 1994, in Sofia, Bulgaria, by eleven of the Danube Riparian States – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine – and the European Community, and duly came into force in October1998, when it was ratified by the ninth signatory.

The main objective of the Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC) is to ensure that surface waters and groundwater within the Danube River Basin are managed and used sustainably and equitably.

This involves:

• the conservation, improvement and rational use of surface waters and groundwater
• preventive measures to control hazards originating from accidents involving floods, ice or hazardous substances
• measures to reduce the pollution loads entering the Black Sea from sources in the Danube River Basin

The signatories to the DRPC have agreed to co-operate on fundamental water management issues by taking "all appropriate legal, administrative and technical measures to at least maintain and where possible improve the current water quality and environmental conditions of the Danube river and of the waters in its catchment area, and to prevent and reduce as far as possible adverse impacts and changes occurring or likely to be caused."

Disclaimer

The information contained in the ICPDR website is intended to enhance public access to information about the ICPDR and the Danube River. The information is correct to the best of the knowledge of the ICPDR Secretariat. If errors are brought to our attention we will try to correct them.
The ICPDR, expert group members, nor other parties involved in preparation of information contained on this website cannot, however, be held responsible for the correctness and validity of the data and information provided, nor accept responsibility or liability for damages or losses arising directly or indirectly from the use of the information conveyed therein.
Only those documents clearly marked ICPDR documents reflect the position of the ICPDR.
Any links to other websites are provided for your convenience only. The ICPDR does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy, availability, or appropriateness to the user's purposes, of any information or services on any other website.
When using the information and material provided on this website, credit should be given to the ICPDR.