   About HELCOMThe Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between Denmark, Estonia, the European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.
The Helsinki Commission meets annually. Ministerial level meetings are also held occasionally. The Commission unanimously adopts Recommendations for the protection of the marine environment, which the governments of the Contracting Parties must act on in their respective national programmes and legislation.  The chairmanship of the Helsinki Commission rotates between the Contracting Parties every two years, according to their alphabetical order in English. The working structure of HELCOM, supported by the Secretariat, consists of the meetings of the Helsinki Commission, the Heads of Delegation, and five main groups.  The Helsinki Commission is responsible for monitoring and implementing:
HELCOM's main goal is to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution, and to restore and safeguard its ecological balance. For the first time ever, all the sources of pollution around an entire sea were made subject to a single convention, signed in 1974 by the then seven Baltic coastal states. The 1974 Convention entered into force on 3 May 1980. In the light of political changes, and developments in international environmental and maritime law, a new Convention was signed in 1992 by all the states bordering on the Baltic Sea, and the European Community. After ratification the Convention entered into force on 17 January 2000. The Convention covers the whole of the Baltic Sea area, including inland waters as well as the water of the sea itself and the sea-bed. Measures are also taken in the whole catchment area of the Baltic Sea to reduce land-based pollution. Responsibility In order to restore the ecosystem of the Baltic Sea area and preserve its ecological balance the Contracting Parties shall individually or jointly take all appropriate legislative, administrative or other measures to prevent and eliminate pollution. The precautionary principle Preventive measures must be taken whenever there are reasonable grounds to believe that substances or energy directly or indirectly introduced into the marine environment might harm human health, living resources or marine ecosystems, or damage amenities or interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea. Best Environmental Practices and Best Available Technologies will be promoted by the Contracting Parties to prevent the pollution of the Baltic Sea. Additional measures shall be taken if the consequent reductions of inputs do not lead to acceptable results. The "polluter pays" principle should serve as the economic basis for the control of environmentally harmful activities, emphasising the importance of responsibility by forcing polluters to pay for the true costs of their activities. Monitoring Emissions from both point sources and diffuse sources into water and the air should be measured and calculated in a scientifically appropriate manner by the Contracting Parties. Avoiding risks Implementing the Helsinki Convention should neither result in transboundary pollution affecting regions outside the Baltic Sea area, nor involve increases or changes in waste disposal or other activities that could increase health risks. Any measures taken must not lead to unacceptable environmental strains on the atmosphere, soils, water bodies or groundwater.
Since the beginning of the 1980s the Helsinki Commission has been working to improve the Baltic marine environment, largely through some 200 HELCOM Recommendations. Successes during this period include:
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