1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COUNCILDIRECTIVE
of16June1973
onthedisposalofwasteoils
(75/439/EEC)
(OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 23)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Directive of 22 December 1986 (87/101/EEC) L 42 43 12.2.1987
►M2Council Directive of 23 December 1991 (91/692/EEC) L 377 48 31.12.1991
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COUNCILDIRECTIVE
of16June1975
onthedisposalofwasteoils
(75/439/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Articles100 and 235 thereof;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission;
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament(1);
Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee(2);
Whereas any disparity between the provisions on the disposal of waste
oilsalready applicable or in preparation in the variousMember Statesmay create unequal conditionsof competition and thusdirectly affectthe functioning of the common market; whereasit istherefore neces -sary to approximate laws in this field as provided for in Article 100
of the Treaty;
Whereas it seems necessary for this approximation of laws to be
accompanied by Community action so that one of the aims of the
Community in the sphere of protection of the environment can be
achieved by wider regulations; whereas certain specific provisions tothiseffect s hould therefore be laid down; whereasArticle 235 of theTreaty should be invoked as the powers required for this purpose havenot been provided by the Treaty;
Whereas all provisions relating to the disposal of waste oils should
have as one of their essential objectives the protection of the environ-ment against the harmful effects caused by the discharge, deposit or
treatment of these oils;
Whereas the recycling of waste oils may be conducive to a fuel supply
policy;
Whereasthe programme of action of the European Communitieson the
environment(
3) underlinesthe importance of the problem of the
disposal of waste oils without harmful effects upon the environment;
Whereas the quantities of waste oils and in particular of emulsions
have increased in the Community;
Whereas an efficient and coherent system of treatment for waste oils,
which will neither create barriersto intra-Community trade nor affectcompetition, should apply to all such products, even those which arecomposed only in part of oil, and should provide for their safe treat-
ment under economically satisfactory conditions;
Whereas such a system should regulate the treatment, discharge,
deposit and collection of waste oils and provide for a system of permits
for undertakings which dispose of such oils, for compulsory collectionand/or disposal of such oils in certain cases and for suitable inspectionprocedures;
Whereasin cas eswhere certain undertakingsare required to collect
and/or dispose of waste oils, compensation by indemnities of that partof their costs relating thereto and not covered by their earnings shouldbe possible and whereas these indemnities may be financed, amongother methods, by a charge on new or regenerated oils,1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ No C 85, 18. 7. 1974, p. 6.
(2) OJ No C 125, 16. 10. 1974, p. 33.
(3) OJ No C 112, 20. 12. 1973, p. 3.
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HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
For the purposes of this Directive;
—‘waste oils’ means:
any mineral-based lubrication or industrial oils which have become
unfit for the use for which they were originally intended, and inparticular used combustion engine oils and gearbox oils, and alsomineral lubricating oils, oils for turbines and hydraulic oils;
—‘disposal’ means:
the processing or destruction of waste oils as well as their storage
and tipping above or under ground;
—‘processing’ means:
operations designed to permit the re-use of waste oils, that is to say,
regeneration and combustion;
—‘regeneration’ means:
any process whereby base oils can be produced by refining waste
oils, in particular by removing the contaminants, oxidation products
and additives contained in such oils;
—‘combustion’ means:
the use of waste oils as fuel with the heat produced being
adequately recovered;
—‘collection’ means:
all operations whereby waste oils can be transferred from the
holders to undertakings which dispose of such oils.
Article 2
Without prejudice to the provisions of Directive 78/319/EEC(
1),
Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that wasteoils are collected and disposed of without causing any avoidable
damage to man and the environment.
Article 3
1. Where technical, economic and organizational constraints so
allow, Member States shall take the measures necessary to give priorityto the processing of waste oils by regeneration.
2. Where waste oils are not regenerated, on account of the
constraints mentioned in paragraph 1 above, Member States shall take
the measures necessary to ensure that any combustion of waste oils iscarried out under environmentally acceptable conditions, in accordancewith the provisions of this Directive, provided that such combustion istechnically, economically and organizationally feasible.
3. Where waste oils are neither regenerated nor burned, on account
of the constraints mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2, Member Statesshall take the measures necessary to ensure their safe destruction ortheir controlled storage or tipping.
Article 4
Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the prohibi-
tion of:
(a) any discharge of waste oils into inland surface water, ground water,
territorial sea water and drainage systems;
(b) any deposit and/or discharge of waste oils harmful to the soil and
any uncontrolled discharge of residues resulting from the proces-sing of waste oils;1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 3
(1) OJ No L 84, 31. 3. 1973, p. 43.▼M1
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(c) any processing of waste oils causing air pollution which exceeds
the level prescribed by existing provisions.
Article 5
1. Where necessary in order to achieve the objectives of this Direc-
tive and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 2, MemberStatess hall carry out public information and promotional campaignsto ensure that waste oils are stored appropriately and collected as faras possible.
2. Where the objectivesdefined in Articles2, 3 and 4 cannot other-
wise be achieved, Member States shall take the necessary measures toensure that one or more undertakings carry out the collection and/or
disposal of waste oils offered to them by holders, where appropriate
in the area assigned to them by the competent authorities.
3. To achieve the objectivesdefined in Articles2 and 4, Member
Statesmay decide to allocate the was te oilsto any of the typesofprocessing set out in Article 3. To this end, they may institute appro-priate checks.
4. To ensure compliance with the measures taken pursuant to Article
4, any undertaking which collects waste oils must be subject to regis-tration and adequate supervision by the competent national authorities,possibly including a system of permits.
Article 6
1. In order to comply with the measures taken pursuant to Article 4,
any undertaking which disposes of waste oils must obtain a permit.Where necessary, this permit shall be granted after examination of theinstallations.
2. Without prejudice to the requirementslaid down by national and
Community provisions with a purpose other than that of this Directive,a permit may be granted to undertakingswhich regenerate was te oilsor
use waste oils as fuel only where the competent authority has satisfied
itself that all appropriate environmental and health protection measureshave been taken, including use of the best technology available, wherethe cost is not excessive.
Article 7
Where waste oils are regenerated, Member States shall take the
measures necessary to ensure that:
(a) the operation of the regeneration plant will not cause avoidable
damage to the environment.
To this end, the Member States shall ensure that the risks asso-
ciated with the quantity of residues of regeneration and with thetoxic and dangerous character of such residues are reduced to aminimum and that the residues are disposed of in accordance withArticle 9 of Directive 78/319/EEC;
(b) the base oils derived from regeneration do not constitute a toxic
and dangerouswas te asdefined in Article 1 (b) of Directive 78/
319/EEC and do not contain polychlorinated biphenylsand poly-chlorinated tophenyls(PCB/PCT) in concentrationsbeyond thelimitslaid down in Article 10.
Member States shall inform the Commission of these measures. On the
basis of this information, the Commission shall, within five years of thedate of notification of thisDirective, s ubmit a report to the Council,accompanied if necessary by appropriate proposals.1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 4
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Article 8
1. Without prejudice to the provisions of Directive 84/360/EEC(1)
and Article 3 (1) of thisDirective, where was te oilsare us ed asfuel,Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that opera-
tion of the plant will not cause any significant level of air pollution, in
particular by the emission of substances listed in the Annex. To thisend:
(a) Member States shall satisfy themselves that in the case of the
combustion of oils in plants with a thermal input of 3 MW ormore based on the lower heating value (LHV), the emission limitvalues set in that Annex are being observed.
Member States may at any time set limit values more stringent than
those given in the Annex. They may also set limit values for
substances and parameters other than those listed in the Annex;
(b) Member States shall take such measures as they consider necessary
to ensure that combustion of waste oils in plants with a thermalinput of less than 3 MW based on the lower heating value (LHV)
iss ubject to adequate control.
They shall inform the Commission of these measures. On the basis
of this information the Commission shall, within five years of thedate of notification of thisDirective, s ubmit a report to theCouncil, accompanied if necessary by appropriate proposals.
2. The Member States shall further ensure that:
(a) the residues from the combustion of waste oils are disposed of in
accordance with Article 9 of Directive 78/319/EEC;
(b) the waste oils used as fuel do not constitute a toxic and dangerous
waste as defined in Article 1 (b) of Directive 78/319/EEC and do
not contain PCB/PCT in concentrationsbeyond 50 ppm;
3. Observance of the limit values set out in the Annex may alterna-
tively be ensured by means of an appropriate system of control ofconcentrations of pollutants in waste oils, or mixtures of waste oilsand other fuels, intended for combustion taking account of the tech-nical characteristics of the plant.
In the case of plants where emissions of substances listed in the Annex
may arise additionally from heating products, Member States shallensure, through an established control system, that the proportion of
these substances arising from the combustion of waste oils does not
exceed the limit valuesfixed in the Annex.
Article 9
A person holding waste oils must, if he is unable to comply with the
measures taken pursuant to Article 4, place them at the disposal of the
undertaking or undertakingsreferred to in Article 5.
Article 10
1. During storage and collection, holders and collectors must not
mix waste oils with PCBs and PCTs within the meaning of Directive
76/403/EEC(2) nor with toxic and dangerouswas te within the meaning
of Directive 78/319/EEC.
2. Except asprovided for in paragraph 3, the provis ionsof Directive
76/403/EEC shall apply to waste oils containing more than 50 ppm ofPCB/PCT.
Member States shall further take such special technical measures as are
necessary to ensure that any waste oils containing PCB/PCTs are1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 5
(1) OJ No L 188, 16. 7. 1984, p. 10.
(2) OJ No L 108, 26. 4. 1976, p. 41.▼B
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disposed of without any avoidable damage to man and the environ-
ment.
3. The regeneration of waste oils containing PCBs or PCTs may be
permitted if the regeneration processes make it possible either todestroy the PCBs and PCTs or to reduce them so that the regeneratedoilsdo not contain PCB/PCT beyond a maximum limit which in nocase may exceed 50 ppm.
4. The reference method of measurement to determine the PCB/PCT
content of waste oils shall be fixed by the Commission after consulta-
tion of the Committee for adaptation to technical progress establishedunder Article 18 of Directive 78/319/EEC.
5. Waste oils contaminated by substances which fall within the defi-
nition of toxic and dangerouswas te aslaid down in Article 1 (b) of
Directive 78/319/EEC shall be disposed of in accordance with the
provisions of that Directive.
Article 11
Any establishment producing, collecting and/or disposing of more than
a given quantity of waste oils per year, to be specified by each Member
State but not higher than 500 litres, must:
— keep a record of the quantity, quality, origin and location of such
oilsand of their des patch and receipt, including the datesof thelatter and/or
— convey such information to the competent authorities on request.
Member Statesare authorized to fix the quantity of was te oilsin accor-
dance with the first subparagraph in terms of an equivalent quantity ofnew oil calculated according to a reasonable conversion factor.
Article 12
Any undertaking which collects, holds and/or disposes of waste oils
must convey to the competent authorities, at their request, any informa-tion concerning the collection and/or disposal of waste oils or theirresidues.
Article 13
1. The undertakings referred to in Article 6 shall be inspected peri-
odically by the Member States, particularly as regards their compliance
with the conditionsof their permits .
2. The competent authorities shall examine trends in the state of
technical development and/or of the environment with a view torevising, where necessary, permits granted to undertakings in accor-dance with thisDirective.
Article 14
As a reciprocal concession for the obligations imposed on them by the
Member Statespurs uant to Article 5, indemnitiesmay be granted tocollection and/or disposal undertakings for the service rendered. Such
indemnities must not exceed annual uncovered costs actually recorded
by the undertaking taking into account a reasonable profit.
The amount of these indemnities must be such as not to cause any
significant distortion of competition or to give rise to artificial patternsof trade in the products.1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 6
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Article 15
The indemnitiesmay be financed, among other methods , by a charge
imposed on products which after use are transformed into waste oils,or on waste oils.
The financing of indemnitiesmus t be in accordance with the ‘polluter
pays’ principle.
Article 16
Member States may, whilst respecting the provisions of the Treaty,
take measures for the purpose of environmental protection which aremore stringent than those provided for in this Directive.
Such measures may, under the same provisions, include inter alia the
prohibition of the combustion of waste oils.
Article 17
Each Member State shall periodically convey to the Commission infor-
mation concerning itstechnical expertis e and the experience gained and
results obtained through the application of measures taken pursuant tothisDirective.
The Commission shall send an overall summary of such information to
the Member States.
Article 18
At intervals of three years Member States shall send information to the
Commission on the implementation of this Directive, in the form of a
sectoral report which shall also cover other pertinent Community
Directives. The report shall be drawn up on the basis either of a ques-tionnaire or outline drafted by the Commission in accordance with theprocedure laid down in Article 6 of Directive 91/692/EEC(
1). The
questionnaire or outline shall be sent to the Member States six monthsbefore the start of the period covered by the report. The report shall be
made to the Commission within nine months of the end of the three-
year period covered by it.
The first report shall cover the period 1995 to 1997 inclusive.
The Commission shall publish a Community report on the implementa-
tion of the Directive within nine monthsof receiving the reportsfrom
the Member States.
Article 19
Member States shall implement the measures necessary to comply with
thisDirective within 24 monthsof itsnotification, and s hall forthwithinform the Commission thereof.
Article 20
The provisions adopted by the Member States pursuant to this Direc-
tive may be progressively applied to the undertakings referred to inArticle 6, existing at the time of notification of this Directive, withinfour yearsof the s aid notification.1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 7
(1) OJ No L 377, 31. 12. 1991, p. 48.▼B
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Article 21
Member States shall communicate to the Commission the texts of the
main provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered
by thisDirective.
Article 22
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 8
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ANNEX
Emission limit values (1)for certain substances emitted as a result of the
combustion of waste oils in plants with a termal input of 3 MW (LHV) or
more
Pollutant Limit value mg/Nm3
Cd 0,5
Ni 1
either (2)o r (2)
Cr/C148/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C149/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C1501,5Cr/C148/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C149/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C147/C1505Cu Cu
VV
Pb 5 Pb
Cl (
3) 100
F(4)5
SO2(5)—
Dust (total) (5)—
(1) These limit values, which may not be exceeded when waste oils are burned, indicate
the mass concentration of emissions of the aforementioned substances in waste gas, interms of the volume of waste gas in the standard state (273 K; 1 013 hPa), after deduc-
tion of the water vapour moisture content, and of a 3 % oxygen content by volume in
waste gas.
In the case of the second subparagraph of Article 8 (3), the oxygen content will be that
which corresponds to normal operating conditions in the particular process concerned.
(
2) It shall be for the Member States to lay down which of these options shall apply in
their country.
(3) Inorganic gaseous compounds of chlorine expressed as hydrogen chloride.
(4) Inorganic gaseous compounds of fluorine expressed as hydrogen fluoride.
(5) It is not possible to determine limit values for these substances at this stage. The
Member States will independently set emission standards for discharges of thesesubstances taking into account the requirements of Directive 80/779/EEC (OJ No L
229, 30. 8. 1980, p. 30).1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 9
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STATEMENT
TheArticle 10(3)ofDirective 75/439/EEC
The Council considers that the limit given in Article 10 (3) is in fact a
maximum limit for the output of the regeneration process. Bearing in mind the
desirability of eliminating PCB/PCT wherever possible from the environment, it
invitesMember Statesto make every effort to s tay well below thislimit. It
further invites the Commission to review this limit and to come forward with
appropriate proposals for a new limit within five years of the notification ofthisDirective.1975L0439 — EN — 23.12.1991 — 001.001 — 10