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The role of the Industrial Emissions Directive in the European Union and beyond

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Abstract

The fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Industrial Emissions Directive came in December 2015. Consolidating seven previously existing pieces of the environmental acquis, the Industrial Emissions Directive became the command-and-control type cornerstone of EU policy on industrial activities. At the time of its adoption, it marked an important step towards a flexible and coherent legislative framework for industries that emit into air, water and soil. In the past five years, the Industrial Emissions Directive’s provisions for large combustion plants have become applicable outside the EU as well via their gradual incorporation into the environmental acquis of the Energy Community Treaty.

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  1. Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control, OJ L 257, 10.10.1996, pp. 26–40, as codified and replaced by Directive 2008/1/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control, OJ L 24, 29.1.2008, pp. 8–29.

  2. Directive 2001/80/EC of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants, OJ L 309, 27.11.2001, pp. 1–21.

  3. Directive 2000/76/EC of 4 December 2000 on the incineration of waste, OJ L 332, 28.12.2000, pp. 91–111.

  4. Council Directive 1999/13/EC of 11 March 1999 on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain activities and installations, OJ L 85, 29.3.1999, pp. 1–22.

  5. Council Directive 78/176/EEC of 20 February 1978 on waste from the titanium dioxide industry, OJ L 54, 25.2.1978, pp. 19–24; Council Directive 82/883/EEC of 3 December 1982 on procedures for the surveillance and monitoring of environments concerned by waste from the titanium dioxide industry, OJ L 378, 31.12.1982, pp. 1–14; Council Directive 92/112/EEC of 15 December 1992 on procedures for harmonizing the programmes for the reduction and eventual elimination of pollution caused by waste from the titanium dioxide industry, OJ L 409, 31.12.1992, pp. 11–16.

  6. European Commission [11], p. 3.

  7. Article 4 of the IPPC Directive.

  8. Article 5(1) of the IPPC Directive.

  9. More than 50,000 installations were already covered EU-wide by the IPPC Directive, to which the new activities introduced by the IED added approximately 4,400 more (COM(2007) 843 final, p. 8).

  10. Cases C-534/09 Commission v Greece [2010] ECR I-160; C-33/10 Commission v Denmark, ECLI:EU:C:2010:750; C-48/10 Commission v Spain [2010] ECR I-151, C-49/10 Commission v Slovenia [2010] ECR I-128, C-50/10 Commission v Italy [2011] ECR I-45, C-352/11 Commission v Austria, ECLI:EU:C:2012:315, C-158/12 Commission v Ireland, ECLI:EU:C:2013:234, C-607/10 Commission v Sweden, ECLI:EU:C:2012:192 and C-243/13 Commission v Sweden, ECLI:EU:C:2014:2413.

  11. European Commission Press Release IP/13/145, 21 February 2013, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-145_en.htm; European Commission Press Release IP/15/4492, 26 February 2015, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-4492_en.htm.

  12. The Bureau was set up in 1997 as a department of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Seville.

  13. Schoenberger [13], p. 1527. The work of the EIPPCB is widely known as the “Seville Process”.

  14. DEFRA [2], p. viii.

  15. Article 9(4) of the IPPC Directive sets out that “[w]ithout prejudice to Article 10, the emission limit values and the equivalent parameters and technical measures referred to in paragraph 3 shall be based on the best available techniques, without prescribing the use of any technique or specific technology, but taking into account the technical characteristics of the installation concerned, its geographical location and the local environmental conditions.” All three possibilities for derogation were used excessively in IPPC permits, which seriously undermined the application and the spreading of BAT-based techniques throughout the EU.

  16. “Permits issued for implementing the IPPC Directive often include conditions that are not based on BAT as described in the BREFs with little, if any, justification for such deviation.”—COM(2007) 843 final, p. 4.

  17. Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Towards an improved policy on industrial emissions, 21 December 2007, COM(2007) 843 final, pp. 3–4.

  18. European Commission Press Release IP/07/1985, 21 December 2007 (http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-07-1985_en.htm).

  19. European Commission Press Release IP/10/1477, 8 November 2010 (http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-10-1477_en.htm).

  20. Article 2(12) of the IED.

  21. The LCPD, as well as Chapter III and Annex V of the IED that became its successor, imposes emission limit values on three pollutants from large combustion plants: sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust (particulate matter).

  22. In 2015, the Medium Combustion Plants Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/2193) was adopted—with that, the legal loophole has been closed.

  23. Position (EU) No. 1/2010 of the Council at first reading with a view to the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (Recast), OJ C 107, 27.4.2010, pp. 106–107.

  24. According to Article 30(2) of the Industrial Emissions Directive, combustion plants which have been granted a permit before 7 January 2013, or the operators of which have submitted a complete application for a permit before that date, provided that such plants are put into operation no later than 7 January 2014 shall be considered as existing plants.

  25. The level of complexity is well reflected by the fact that in 2013, the United Kingdom Department of Food and Rural Affairs decided to issue separate interpretational guidance on Chapter III of the IED—see DEFRA [3], p. 2.

  26. The Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 April 2001 providing for minimum criteria for environmental inspections in the Member States (OJ L 118, 27.4.2001, p. 41.) was the first instrument addressing the issue of environmental inspection, doing so however without a legally binding nature. The Commission proposal as well as Article 23 IED relies on the Recommendation in several aspects.

  27. Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (Recast), 21 December 2007, COM(2007) 844 final, p. 30.

  28. Article 3(13) of the IED defines ‘emission levels associated with the best available techniques’ as “the range of emission levels obtained under normal operating conditions using a best available technique or a combination of best available techniques, as described in BAT conclusions, expressed as an average over a given period of time, under specified reference conditions.”

  29. Article 15(4) of the IED still bases the possibility for derogation on the three options as the IPPC Directive does, namely the technical characteristics, the geographical location or the local environmental conditions of the installation concerned. At the same time a number of safeguards have been introduced when a derogation from the BAT AELs is applied: the derogation shall be documented in the permit with proper justification, a safety net approach with the technical chapters of the IED is applied and the should be reassessed whenever the permit is reconsidered.

  30. Position (EU) No. 1/2010 of the Council at first reading with a view to the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) Adopted by the Council on 15 February 2010, OJ C 107E, 27.4.2010, p. 107.

  31. The rules of the Seville Process are established by Commission Implementing Decision 2012/119/EU laying down rules concerning guidance on the collection of data and on the drawing up of BAT reference documents and on their quality assurance.

  32. Article 13(3) of the IED. The Forum was established by Commission Decision 2011/C 146/03 of 16 May 2011.

  33. Article 13(4) of the IED.

  34. For the time being, BAT conclusions exist for the following sectors: glass manufacturing; iron and steel production; tanning of hides and skins; cement, lime and magnesium oxide production, chlor-alkali production; production of pulp, paper and board; refining of mineral oil and gas; wood-based panels production; waste water in the chemical sector; non-ferrous metals industries.

  35. European Commission [10], p. 99.

  36. The manuscript of this paper was finalised on 15 September 2016. The Ministerial Council of the Energy Community meets on 14 October 2016 in Sarajevo.

  37. Council Directive of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (85/337/EEC), OJ L 175, 5.7.1985, pp. 40–48.

  38. Council Directive of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds (79/409/EEC), OJ L 103, 25.4.79, pp. 1–18.

  39. Council Directive 1999/32/EC of 26 April 1999 relating to a reduction in the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels and amending Directive 93/12/EEC, OJ L 121, 11.5.1999, pp. 13–18.

  40. Under Article 79 of the Energy Community Treaty, measures under Title II are adopted upon a Commission proposal. As environmental issues are under Title II, decisions and recommendations are adopted based on such proposals.

  41. Energy Community Ministerial Council [5, 6], Decision 2013/05/MC-EnC on the implementation of Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants; Decision 2013/06/MC-EnC on the implementation of Chapter III, Annex V, and Article 72(3)–(4) of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) and amending Article 16 and Annex II of the Energy Community Treaty.

  42. Energy Community Secretariat [8], p. 6.

  43. Energy Community Ministerial Council [7], D/2015/06/MC-EnC on the implementation of Chapter III, Annex V, and Article 72(3)–(4) of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) for existing combustion plants and amending Annex II of the Energy Community Treaty.

  44. Ukraine represents an exemption as Decision 2015/07/MC-EnC provided that this Contracting Party will be provided with a possibility to use the implementation alternatives of national emission reduction plan and opt-out according to a longer timeframe. Therefore, in Ukraine individual compliance is only envisaged within a few years’ time post-2028.

  45. Energy Community Secretariat [9], p. 15.

  46. The predecessor of the LCPD was adopted in 1988 and therefore the first results started to appear from 1990 onwards.

  47. Conti et al. [1], p. 152.

  48. HEAL [12], p. 28.

  49. The Ministerial Council appointed Prof. Jerzy Buzek as Chair of the High Level Reflection Group, who subsequently designated five members of the Group: Mr Walter Boltz, Ms Vesna Borozan, Mr Fabrizio Donini Ferretti, Mr Volodymyr Makukha and Mr Goran Svilanović.

  50. Energy Community High Level Reflection Group [4].

  51. Vajda [14], pp. 10–11.

Abbreviations

BAT :

best available techniques

BAT AELs :

associated emission levels with the best available techniques

BREF(s) :

BAT reference document(s)

EIPPCB :

European IPPC Bureau

EU :

European Union

IED :

Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU)

IPPC :

Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control

IPPCD :

IPPC Directive (96/61/EC, later codified as 2008/1/EC)

JRC :

Joint Research Centre

LCP(s) :

Large Combustion Plant(s)

LCPD :

Large Combustion Plants Directive (2001/80/EC)

MEP(s) :

Member(s) of the European Parliament

TFEU :

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

WID :

Waste Incineration Directive (2000/76/EC)

References

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    Peter Vajda

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Vajda, P. The role of the Industrial Emissions Directive in the European Union and beyond. ERA Forum 17, 487–499 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-016-0441-4

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