Baltic Marine Environment
Protection Commission

The Helsinki Convention

Signing the Helsinki Convention in 1974. © HELCOM

The Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area – also known as the Helsinki Convention – was originally signed in 1974 by all Baltic Sea coastal countries, seeking to address the increasing environmental challenges from industrialisation and other human activities and that were having a severe impact on the marine environment. 

The Helsinki Convention includes the protection of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution from land, air and sea. It also commits the signatories to take measures on conserving habitats and biological diversity and for the sustainable use of marine resources. 

The Convention covers the whole of the Baltic Sea area, including inland waters as well as the water of the sea itself and the seabed. Measures are also taken in the whole catchment area of the Baltic Sea to reduce land-based pollution.

The original Convention was signed in Helsinki on 22 March 1974 by its then seven Contracting Parties: Denmark, Finland, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Poland, Sweden and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It entered into force on 3 May 1980.

The Helsinki Convention was updated in 1992 to take into account the geopolitical changes and emerging environmental challenges in the region. The Convention was extended to ten Contracting Parties, namely Denmark, Estonia, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

The updated Helsinki Convention of 1992 entered into force on 17 January 2000, after the ratification instruments were deposited by the European Community, Germany, Latvia and Sweden in 1994, by Estonia and Finland in 1995, by Denmark in 1996, by Lithuania in 1997, and by Poland and Russia in November 1999. 

The Convention is amended whenever deemed necessary, such as to follow the developments in international environmental and maritime laws. The latest amendment of the Convention entered into force on 1 July 2014.

Annexes to the Convention

Seven annexes are currently appended to the Helsinki Convention, containing more detailed procedures, measures and regulations linked to specific ecological objectives, principles or obligations that are set out in the Convention.

The Helsinki Convention



Full text of the version currently in force

Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (Helsinki Convention)