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1973 c. 51: section 56(1) was amended by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16), section 23(5) and Schedule 8, paragraph 17; and, section 56(6) was repealed by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1977 (c. 18), Schedule 1, Part 8. Section 56(1) confers on the Minister in charge of a department a power to make regulations requiring the payment of fees and other charges in connection with any authorisation, certificate or other document issued in pursuance of an international agreement. The international agreement relevant to these Regulations is the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution 1979 and its Protocols. The Convention was adopted on 13th November 1979 within the framework of the Economic Commission for Europe on the Protection of the Environment. The United Kingdom ratified the Convention on 15th July 1982. The Convention was established following research into the role that air-borne pollutants play in creating acid-rain even at considerable distances from the source of that pollution. Article 3 of the Convention requires contracting parties to implement and monitor policies designed to combat the discharge of air pollutants, including smoke from burning solid fuels. See also the 1999 Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone (as amended in 2012 by Executive Body decisions 2021/1 and 2021/2 to include emissions of fine particulate matter and black carbon (soot)). The 1999 Protocol is better known as the Gothenburg Protocol. The obligations of the United Kingdom under Article 3 and the tables in Annex 2 of the Gothenburg Protocol, as they affect England, are fulfilled in part through the provision of smoke control measures in Part 3 of the Clean Air Act 1993 (c. 11) (as that Part applies in relation to England) and in the Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1095). The 1979 Convention and the Gothenburg Protocol may be viewed online at www.unece.org. Hard copies may be available by contacting the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe by email ([email protected]) or by post (Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, Environment Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Palais des Nations, 8-14 Avenue de la Paix, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland). For more information contact the International Air Quality Team, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF.