REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Report on the implementation and review of Directive 2004/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain paints and varnishes and vehicle refinishing products and amending Directive 1999/13/EC  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Report on the implementation and review of Directive 2004/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain paints and varnishes and vehicle refinishing products and amending Directive 1999/13/EC
Date: 2011-05-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: environmental monitoring, industrial pollution, organic chemical, paints and varnishes, pollution control measures, solvent

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 27.5.2011 
COM(2011) 297 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Report on the implementation and review of Directive 2004/42/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic 
compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain paints and varnishes and vehicle 
refinishing products and amending Directive 1999/13/EC 

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Report on the implementation and review of Directive 2004/42/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic 
compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain paints and varnishes and vehicle 
refinishing products and amending Directive 1999/13/EC 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

On 21 April 2004, Directive 2004/42/EC of the European Parliament and the Council 
on  the  limitation  of  emissions  of  volatile  organic  compounds  due  to  the  use  of 
organic solvents in certain paints and varnishes and vehicle refinishing products and 
amending Directive 1999/13/EC (hereinafter "the Paints Directive") was adopted.  

The  purpose  of  the  Paints  Directive  is  to  limit  emissions  of  volatile  organic 
compounds (hereinafter "VOC") due to the use of organic solvents in certain paints 
and  varnishes,  as  well  as  in  vehicle  refinishing  products1  in  order  to  prevent  or 
reduce  air  pollution  resulting  from  the  contribution  of  VOC  to  the  formation  of 
ground-level ozone. It aims to complement measures to be taken at national level in 
order  to  ensure  compliance  with  the  VOC  emission  ceilings  as  set  out  in  Directive 
2001/81/EC  on  national  emission  ceilings  for  certain  atmospheric  pollutants 
(hereinafter "the NEC Directive"). 

The  products  covered  by  the  Paints  Directive  are  paints  and  varnishes  applied  to 
buildings, their trim and fittings and associated structures for decorative, functional 
and protective reasons as well as products for vehicle refinishing.  

To this end, the Paints Directive requires that the products falling under its scope and 
which  are  placed  on  the  market  after  1  January  2007  have  a  VOC  content  not 
exceeding the limit values set out in its Annex II. For paints and varnishes, stricter 
VOC limit values have applied in a second phase since 1 January 2010.  

Article 14 of the Paints Directive required Member States to transpose the Directive 
into  their  legislation  by  30  October  2005  at  the  latest.  A  summary  of  the  state  of 
transposition of the Directive is given in section 2 of this report. 

Articles  6  and  7  of  the  Paints  Directive  require  that  Member  States  set  up  a 
monitoring programme to verify compliance and regularly report to the Commission 
on  the  results  of  the  monitoring  programme.  On  the  basis  of  this  information  the 

1 

'vehicle refinishing products' are defined as the products listed in the subcategories mentioned in Annex 
II(B)  of  the  Paints  Directive.  They  are  used  for  the  coating  of  road  vehicles  as  defined  in  Directive 
70/156/EEC, or part of them, carried out as part of vehicle repair, conservation or decoration outside of 
manufacturing installations 

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implementation  in  Member  States  has  been  assessed  and  an  overview  of  the  main 
findings is given in section 3 of this report. 

Article 9 of the Paints Directive invites the Commission to submit to the European 
Parliament and the Council a report examining:  

the potential for reduction of the VOC content of products outside the scope of 

• 
the Paints Directive including aerosols for paints and varnishes; 

the  possible  further  reduction  of  the  VOC  content  limits  set  by  the  Directive 

• 
for vehicle refinishing products; and  

any  new  element  relating  to  the  socio-economic  impact  of  the  application  of 
• 
the  limit  values  set  out  in  Annex  II  of  the  Paints  Directive,  which  apply  from  1 
January 2010 (Phase II). 

The outcome of this analysis is summarized in section 4 of this report. 

2. 

TRANSPOSITION 

The deadline for transposing the Paints Directive into national legislation expired on 
30  October  2005.  Whilst  few  Member  States  met  this  deadline,  all  Member  States 
completed transposition for the whole national territory shortly after that date.  

The  Commission  has  not  identified  any  major  instances  of  non-conformity  of  the 
Member States' transposing legislation.  

3. 

IMPLEMENTATION 

3.1. 

Introduction 

Article 7 of the Paints Directive requires Member States to report the results of their 
monitoring programme to demonstrate compliance with the Directive. It also requires 
Member States to report on the category and quantity of products licensed according 
to  Article  3(3)  of  the  Directive.  The  first  report,  covering  the  year  2007,  had  to  be 
submitted to the Commission by 30 June 2008. For this purpose, a common format 
was developed and adopted by the Commission2.  

Reports  have  been  received  from  26  Member  States  and  are  available  on  the 
EUROPA website3.  

3.2.  Member States monitoring programmes and inspections (2007) 

The  general  assessment  of  the  reports  submitted  by  Member  States  revealed  that 
despite some information gaps due to the limited time that had passed since the entry 
into  force  of  the  Directive,  some  useful  information  on  the  monitoring  practices  in 
certain Member States could be extracted.  

2 
3 

Commission Decision 2007/205/EC of 22 March 2007 (OJ L 91, 31.3.2007, p. 48) 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/pollutants/paints_ms_reporting.htm 

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The administrative organisation of the competent authorities responsible for ensuring 
implementation  of  the  Paints  Directive  varies  significantly  among  the  Member 
States.  Some  Member  States  have  centralized  the  competences  within  one  national 
body,  while  others  have  assigned  the  co-ordination,  monitoring  and  infringement 
responsibilities to three separate national bodies, and still others have national bodies 
for  co-ordination  and  regional  offices  for  monitoring  and  infringement.  In  cases 
where several authorities are involved, Member States usually clearly distinguish the 
respective areas of competence or ensure a coordinated approach. 

The  reported  number  of  inspections  of  manufacturers,  importers,  wholesalers, 
retailers  and  operators  in  2007  varied  between  zero  and  540,  with  most  Member 
States  reporting  between  10  and  100  site  visits.  However,  this  does  not  give 
information  on  the  share  of  the  market  covered.  The  specific  actions  taken  with 
regard to inspection vary significantly between Member States. No information was 
available  on  the  split  between  site  visits  for  checking  compliance  with  the  VOC 
limits  and  site  visits  for  checking  compliance  with  the  requirements  concerning 
labelling. 

Several cases of non-compliance were found during the inspections. The number of 
breaches of the VOC limits was generally below 5% of the cases, while breaches of 
the labelling requirements were more frequent and often around 20%.  

Concerning the application of Article 3(3) of the Paints Directive, only one Member 
State  reported  that  individual  licences  were  granted  for  the  sale  and  purchase  of 
products  which  will  be  applied  for  restoration  and  maintenance  of  buildings  and 
vintage  vehicles  designated  as  being  of  particular  historical  and  cultural  value,  but 
which  do  not  meet  the  VOC  limit  values.  All  of  the  other  Member  States  either 
reported  that  they  have  not  foreseen  the  option  to  grant  such  licences  or  that  no 
applications for such licences had been received in 2007. 

Several Member States provided some comments concerning difficulties encountered 
during  the  implementation  of  the  Paints  Directive.  The  main  implementation 
challenges  reported  were  a  lack  of  administrative  resources  for  monitoring  and  an 
insufficient  number  of  (accredited)  analytical  laboratories.  The  most  commonly 
reported interpretation issues were related to the scope of the Directive (definitions), 
the classification of products within a particular subcategory and the interaction with 
Directive  1999/13/EC4  (hereinafter  "the  VOC  Solvent  Emissions  Directive")  as 
explained in section 3.3. 

3.3. 

Interaction with the VOC Solvent Emissions Directive  

Several Member States reported some difficulties due to the overlap of the scope of 
the Paints Directive with the VOC Solvent Emissions Directive. According to Article 
3(2) of the Paints Directive, Member States are allowed to exempt from compliance 
with the VOC limits any products sold for exclusive use in an activity covered by the 
VOC  Solvent  Emissions  Directive  and  carried  out  in  a  registered  or  authorised 
installation according to Articles 3 and 4 of that Directive. As a consequence, paints 
and  varnishes  within  the  same  product  category  (e.g.  for  wood  coating  activities) 

4 

OJ L 85, 29.3.1999, p. 1 

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may be subject to different VOC requirements depending on their use. Whereas the 
VOC content of those paints which are solely used for activities within installations 
complying  with  the  VOC  Solvent  Emissions  Directive  is  not  limited  by  the  Paints 
Directive,  similar  paints  which  are  used  outside  those  installations  need  to  be 
compliant with the VOC limits of the Paints Directive.  

Monitoring the final use of the exempted products and ensuring that these paints are 
only  used  in  compliant  installations  is  challenging  for  the  competent  authorities. 
Enforcement  becomes  more  difficult  where  different  activities,  some  of  which  are 
covered  by  the  VOC  Solvent  Emissions  Directive  and  some  which  are  not,  are  all 
carried out within one installation.  

From the implementation reports, a number of procedures aiming to ensure a correct 
application of Article 3(2) of the Paints Directive could be identified, with variations 
observed  among  the  Member  States.  This  included  labelling  requirements  for  non-
compliant products, the need for the purchaser to provide proof that the products will 
be used only in installations covered by the VOC Solvent Emissions Directive and a 
requirement to list customers buying non-compliant products.  

3.4. 

Commission support to implementation 

The Commission has been working with representatives of the Member States in the 
Committee  referred  to  under  Article  12  of  the  Paints  Directive  to  clarify  questions 
concerning  the  interpretation  and  implementation  of  the  Directive.  In  this  context, 
some  elements  needing  further  clarification  were  identified,  such  as  certain 
definitions,  the  scope  of  the  different  subcategories  of  paints  and  varnishes,  the 
labelling requirements in Article 4 and the classification of certain vehicle refinishing 
products. A number of these issues have been clarified already through Commission 
guidance5, while the others have been considered during the review of the Directive 
and will be tackled through further guidance.  

Furthermore,  Commission  Directive  2010/79/EU  of  19  November  20106  has 
introduced  an  additional  standard  concerning  the  analytical  methods  for  assessing 
compliance with the VOC limit values, which will allow checking compliance in a 
more cost effective way. 

3.5. 

Conclusions concerning implementation 

At  the  time  of  gathering  the  data  for  this  report  (covering  the  year  2007),  the 
implementation  of  the  Paints  Directive  in  the  Member  States  was  still  in  its  very 
early  stages  as  the  VOC  limits  from  Annex  I  only  apply  since  1  January  2007. 
Furthermore, a one year transitional period was granted by Article 3, allowing non-
compliant products produced before 1 January 2007 to be placed on the market.  

The  information  received  so  far  under  Article  7,  shows  that  many  Member  States 
have  established  programmes  for  monitoring  compliance  of  the  products  placed  on 
the market. However, the Commission has indications that in 2007 several Member 
States  were  still  behind  schedule  in  setting  up  their  inspection  programmes.  The 

5 
6 

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/pollutants/paints_faq.htm 
OJ L 304, 20.11.2010, p. 18 

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adequate monitoring of manufacturers and importers is of particular importance for 
ensuring  compliance  with  the  Directive's  VOC  limits  and  labelling  obligations. 
Improvements  to  the  monitoring  programmes  and  practices  are  therefore  required 
and Member States will be encouraged to share their experiences and mutually learn 
from established best practices. 

It  is  expected  that  a  more  thorough  evaluation  of  Member  States’  compliance  with 
the  Directive's  monitoring  obligations  will  be  possible  on  the  basis  of  the  second 
national  implementation  reports  under  Article  7,  covering  the  year  2010  which  are 
due by 30 June 2011.  

4. 

REVIEW OF THE DIRECTIVE 

4.1. 

Introduction 

4.1.1.  Review clause 

Article  9  of  the  Paints  Directive  calls  for  a  review  of  the  Directive  to  identify 
possible  further  reduction  potentials.  Amendments  to  be  assessed  include  an 
extension  of  its  scope  to  other  products  and  the  introduction  of  stricter  VOC  limit 
values  for  vehicle  refinishing  products.  Additionally,  it  asks  for  examining  any 
additional  socio-economic  impacts  arising  from  the  Directive's  implementation 
which were not recognised during the preparation of the Directive. 

To support this review, the Commission contracted an external consultant. The study, 
running  during  2008  and  2009,  involved  all  of  the  key  stakeholders.  It  looked  at  a 
variety  of  options  to  extend  the  scope  of  the  Paints  Directive  and  increase  VOC 
reduction. For a range of products, which were identified as possible candidates to be 
included  under  the  scope  of  the  Directive,  the  benefits  and  costs  of  such  inclusion 
were assessed7. 

4.1.2.  Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and NEC Directive  

The  implementation  and  review  of  the  Paints  Directive  needs  to  be  seen  in  the 
context of the implementation of the EU policies regarding air pollution, in particular 
the  Commission's  2005  Thematic  Strategy  on  Air  Pollution  (hereinafter  "the 
Thematic  Strategy")8  and  the  NEC  Directive.  One  of  the  major  objectives  of  these 
instruments is the reduction of ground-level ozone concentrations in order to protect 
human health and ecosystems. Ground-level ozone and other photochemical oxidants 
are formed through the reaction of VOC, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide in the 
presence of sunlight.  

The  Thematic  Strategy  has  set  interim  objectives  for  2020,  taking  into  account  the 
costs of the measures and their associated benefits. These objectives are expressed as 
"progress  to  be  achieved"  in  comparison  with  the  situation  in  the  year  2000.  For 

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8 

The final report of the study is available at 
http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/env/paints_directive/library?l=/review_2008_2009/contract 
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Thematic Strategy 
on air pollution (COM(2005) 446 final), 21.09.2005 

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ground–level  ozone,  the  objectives  are  a  reduction  of  the  number  of  cases  of 
premature mortality by 10% and a reduction of the area of forest ecosystems where 
ozone  concentrations  exceed  the  critical  levels  by  15%.  The  Thematic  Strategy 
indicated that achieving these objectives would require VOC emissions in 2020 (in 
the EU-25) to be 51% below the 2000 levels. Current legislation on VOC emissions, 
including  the  Paints  Directive,  is  expected  to  contribute  significantly  to  achieve 
reductions  towards  the  overall  objectives  on  VOC  emissions.  The  latest  EU  wide 
assessment9  indicates  that  by  2020  the  existing  legislation  would  nearly  halve  the 
total  emissions  in  2000  thereby  closely  approaching  the  objective  set  out  in  the 
Thematic Strategy on Air. 

There  are  indications  that  a  few  Member  States  might  encounter  problems  with 
achieving their VOC ceiling in 2010 as required under the NEC Directive. However, 
Member States only have to report emissions two years in arrear and final emission 
inventories for 2010 are not yet available.  

4.1.3.  VOC emissions from the use of products covered by the Paints Directive 

Articles 7 and 8 of the NEC Directive require the Member States to annually report 
their  national  emission  inventories  and  projections  for  2010  for  the  pollutants 
covered by the Directive. These reports show that the 2008 VOC emissions from the 
application  of  coatings  for  the  EU-27  were  1 379  kilotonnes  (kt),  which  is  about 
16,6%  of  the  total  VOC  emissions  reported.  Although  the  reports  include 
disaggregated emission data10, the classification of activities used does not allow the 
determination  of  precise  figures  of  the  VOC  emissions  due  to  the  use  of  products 
covered by the Paints Directive.  

Those emissions and their future evolution were estimated, based on production data 
and forecasts provided by the concerned industry federation11. This indicated that the 
total  2006  VOC  emissions  due  to  the  use  of  decorative  paints  covered  by  the 
Directive were around 410 kt. Emissions are expected to decrease to 373 kt in 2010 
due  to  the  stricter  limit  values  coming  into  force.  However,  they  are  projected  to 
increase again to 470 kt in 2020, mainly due to increased consumption. For vehicle 
refinishing  products,  emissions  were  estimated  to  be  56  kt  in  2007  and  were 
projected to increase to 62 kt in 2020. 

4.2. 

Options for scope extension 

During  the  review,  the  environmental,  economic  and  social  impacts  of  seventeen 
options for a possible extension of the scope of the Paints Directive were assessed. 
This involved extensive consultation of stakeholders and Member States.  

One  of  the  products  assessed  were  aerosols  for  paints  and  varnishes,  which  are 
explicitly  mentioned  in  Article  9  of  the  Directive.  The  option  of  including  such 
paints in the scope of the Directive was found to have a very small VOC reduction 
potential (26 kt/y in case of complete substitution). Furthermore, this product group 

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11 

NEC scenario analysis report nr. 7, http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/pollutants/pdf/nec7.pdf 
In  relation  to  paints,  a  distinction  is  made  in  the  reports  between  "Decorative  coating  application" 
(category 3.A.1), "Industrial coating application" (3.A.2) and "Other coating application" (3.A.3). 
European Council of producers and importers of paints, printing inks and artists’ colours (CEPE) 

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comprises a high variety of product types used for different purposes, which would 
make defining appropriate VOC limits difficult and monitoring complex. Introducing 
limit  values  for  the  VOC  content  of  these  products  in  the  Directive  would  in  fact 
require switching to other coating systems, but the existing alternatives may cause a 
loss of product performance. A phase out of the aerosols for paints and varnishes was 
therefore considered to be inappropriate. 

Amongst the other options considered, the highest potential for VOC reduction (126 
kt/y)  was  expected  from  introducing  a  VOC  limit  value  (10%)  for  deodorants  and 
antiperspirants.  However,  this  measure  was  not  recommended  as  it  would  de  facto 
ban  the  use  of  aerosol-  and  pump-type  spray  systems  and  the  existing  alternatives 
seem  to  have  limited  acceptance  from  consumers.  Further  research  to  allow  the 
development  of  alternative  spraying  systems  for  deodorants  is  therefore  needed 
before considering this option further. 

None  of  the  remaining  options  were  estimated  to  reduce  VOC  emissions  by  more 
than  40  kt/year.  For  the  non-coating  products  in  particular,  there  is  a  lack  of 
knowledge  on  the  anticipated  market  evolution  and  consumer  behaviour  to  fully 
assess the potential effects of their inclusion in the scope of the Directive.  

4.3. 

Stricter VOC limit values for vehicle refinishing products 

Annex II(B) of the Paints Directive sets out  the maximum VOC  content of vehicle 
refinishing  products.  The  feasibility  and  impacts  of  strengthening  the  VOC  limit 
values for each of the vehicle refinishing product subcategories have been assessed. 
The overall conclusion from this assessment was that it would not be appropriate to 
propose stricter VOC limit values for these coatings: 

–  For  most  of  the  subcategories  it  was  found  not  to  be  feasible  to  lower  the  limit 
values,  either  because  no  products  with  lower  VOC  content  are  expected  to  be 
available on the market soon or because of a lack of appropriate test methods;  

–  For the topcoats and for the special finishes, the options for optimizing the current 
requirements were estimated to deliver a VOC reduction of only about 3,5 kt/year 
the  administrative  burden  because  of  more 
while  potentially 
complicated monitoring. 

increasing 

4.4. 

Socio-economic impacts of the Phase II limit values 

The review also looked at possible new socio-economic impacts, which had not been 
predicted or assessed during the preparation of the Directive (in 1999-2002).  

The  only  relevant  impact  identified  was  related  to  the  costs  for  (re-)labelling 
products coming under the scope of the Directive. This issue was considered relevant 
also  in  the  light  of  a  possible  scope  extension.  The  total  costs  for  labelling  were 
estimated  by  the  industry  federation  at  around  €600  million.  An  additional  cost  of 
€141 million was estimated for take-back and  destruction of non-compliant products. 
These  costs  could  possibly  have  been  reduced  by  extending  the  transitional  period 
during which sales of non-compliant products are still allowed (e.g. two years instead 
of one year).  

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5. 

CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK 

On  the  basis  of  the  preliminary  information  from  Member  States  on  the 
implementation of the Directive in the first years following its transposition, it can be 
seen  that  monitoring  systems  to  ensure  compliance  were  established.  However, 
several  Member States have struggled to  set up their systems  in  time  and  therefore 
improvements  to  the  current  monitoring  programmes  and  practices  are  required  by 
sharing  experiences  and  establishing  best  practices,  before  firm  conclusions  on 
detailed  impacts  on  VOC  emissions  can  be  drawn.  Further  information  on  these 
aspects  is  being  gathered  from  Member  States  through  the  second  national 
implementation reports. Those will be the basis for the second Commission report on 
the implementation of the Directive. 

As required under the review clause of the Directive, an assessment was performed 
on  measures  that  could  potentially  result  in  a  further  reduction  of  VOC  emissions, 
i.e.  the  widening  of  the  scope  of  the  Directive  and  the  tightening  of  its  VOC  limit 
values for vehicle refinishing products. However, even regulating a very wide range 
of  different  products  would  deliver  only  modest  potential  emission  reductions  and 
this would come with significant implementation problems, as well as with increased 
administrative burden and costs. In particular, important concerns remain with regard 
to  the  uncertain  impacts  on  consumer  behaviour  and  the  likely  increase  of  the 
administrative burden of regulating non-coating products. Furthermore, according to 
the  latest  results  of  the  integrated  assessment  modelling,  a  strengthening  of  the 
existing VOC emission reduction measures seems not to be required to achieve the 
intermediate objectives of the Thematic Strategy. This will be further assessed over 
the coming years as part of the ongoing work related to the review of the Thematic 
Strategy. Therefore, amending the scope or limit values of the Paints Directive is not 
justified at this stage. 

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