MA Naomi Denzer

Research focus

From the 1963 Bern Convention to Schweizerhalle: Business Coordination in the Context of Transboundary Water Pollution

This dissertation project explores national and international business coordination in relation to pollution regulations of the Rhine River. Particular attention is given to the aftermath of the 1986 Sandoz chemical spill, which sparked intensified pressure on chemical businesses.

Stretching from Switzerland to the North Sea, the Rhine has long been one of Europe’s most important waterways, serving not only as a major navigation route, but also as a vital source of drinking water, irrigation, and industrial use. The river’s banks and tributaries host many of Europe’s largest chemical plants. For much of the twentieth century, the Rhine functioned as a conduit for industrial, agricultural, and domestic waste, turning it into a threat to public health and causing the near-extinction of its aquatic life.

Efforts at transnational regulation began in 1950, when Switzerland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg founded the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR). The Commission was institutionalised with the Berne Convention of 1963, yet decisive treaties, the Convention for the Protection of the Rhine against Chemical Pollution and the Rhine Chlorides Convention, were signed in 1976. Parallel to these regulatory developments and in response to increasing social and political pressure for environmental protection, businesses started to organise collectively at both national and international levels. 

Despite the regulatory efforts and first signs of ecological improvements in the 70s, the Sandoz warehouse fire on November 1, 1986 at Schweizerhalle (canton of Basel-Landschaft) severely damaged the Rhine’s ecosystem as well as the image and public confidence in the chemical industry. Meanwhile, the incident prompted the ICPR to quickly develop a new, more comprehensive and stringent program to improve the ecological situation of the Rhine, while Switzerland was pressured by national and international forces to improve its internal measures for preventing and responding to industrial accidents. 

This project examines how businesses and business associations coordinated their actions and reactions to industrial water pollution, with a special focus on the events and aftermath of the 1986 Schweizerhalle accident, its environmental consequences, and the regulatory measures introduced to protect the Rhine.