REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on implementation of Directive 2010/75/EU and final reports on its predecessor legislation (version 22/09/2017)
Date: 2017-12-04
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, air quality, environmental protection, industrial pollution, pollution control, prevention of pollution, reduction of gas emissions, waste incineration

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 4.12.2017  COM(2017) 727 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on implementation of Directive 2010/75/EU and final reports on its predecessor legislation   
 
 
1.  Introduction 

i.  Context 

The  Industrial  Emissions  Directive1  (IED)  is  the  primary  EU  legal  instrument  to  regulate 
industrial emissions and aims to achieve significant benefits to the environment and human 
health, in particular through the mandatory application of Best Available Techniques (BAT). 
Sectors  within  the  scope  of  the  IED  account  for  a  considerable  share  of  overall  pollution 
(emissions to air and water and waste generation) in Europe. It is estimated2 that they account 
for around 23% by mass of emissions to air. For emissions to water the situation is less clear, 
but  it  is  estimated  to  represent  20  to  40%  of  emissions  of  heavy  metals  and  30  to  60%  of 
pollutants other than nutrients and organic carbon. 
The 7th Environment Action Programme3 expects that the uptake by industry of BAT under 
the  IED  will  deliver  improved  resource-use  patterns  and  reduced  emissions  for  the  EU's 
major  industrial  installations,  thus  making  a  significant  contribution  to  stimulating  the 
development of innovative techniques, greening the economy and reducing costs for industry 
in the longer term. 

The IED is a product of better regulation efforts in that it merged, streamlined and simplified 
several  pieces  of  legislation.  It  is  an  integrated  instrument  and  its  permitting  provisions 
replace old systems of multiple permits. One chapter covers the framework for permitting and 
BAT, while others contain special rules for key sectors, in particular large combustion plants, 
waste (co-)incineration plants and installations using organic solvents. 

BAT  Reference  documents  (BREFs)  are  prepared  by  the  European  Integrated  Pollution 
Prevention  and  Control  Bureau  (EIPPCB)  of  the  European  Commission's  Joint  Research 
Centre. This exemplary process involves full participation of all stakeholders in an evidence-
based process in line with Better Regulation. BREFs contain BAT conclusions that are given 
legal  force  by  the  adoption  of  Commission  Implementing  Decisions  containing  them.  BAT 
conclusions provide the BAT framework for each sector which must be taken into account by 
Competent Authorities when issuing permits. 

The  IED  requires  the  Commission  to  report  to  Council  and  Parliament  first  on  the  initial 
phase  of  implementation  and  after  that  triennially.  This  report  summarises  Member  State 
reports  covering  the  initial  phase  of  implementation  (2013)  and  outlines  other  associated 
work that has been carried out, reviews the Commission's current related activities and looks 
ahead to the future. 

As the first Commission report under the IED, this also covers the final reports from Member 
States under the predecessor legislation. 

2.  Reporting by Member States on predecessor legislation 

The  reports from  the  Member  States  on  the  predecessor  legislation  have  been  assessed  and 
their summaries published on CIRCABC4.  

1 Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control); OJ L 349, 
19.12.2012, p. 57–65 
2 'Contribution of industry to pollutant emissions to air and water';  AMEC; September 2014; ISBN 978-92-79-
39499-7 
3 Decision No 1386/2013/EU of 20 November 2013 on a General Union Environment Action Programme to 
2020 ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’; OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 171–200 
4 CIRCABC>environment>IED>Library>Studies> Article 73 review reports>Final reports  

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i. 

Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (IPPCD) 

Final reports under the IPPCD5 were submitted by Member States for its last reporting period 
covering  the  years  2012-2013.  All  Member  States  responded  to  most  of  the  questionnaire, 
providing  sufficient  data  to  assess  and  comment  on  the  implementation  of  the  Directive. 
Member States reported a total of 51 528 IPPC installations in operation at the end of 2013. 
Their main reported activity is shown in the figure below (this only covers EU27 as Croatia 
became a Member State in mid-2013). 

The  majority  of  Member  States  reported  no  major  change  in  implementation  of  the  IPPCD 
since  the  previous  reporting  period.  Changes  reported  mostly  related  to  transposition  and 
implementation  of  the  IED.  Some  Member  States  also  reported  difficulties  due  to  the 
coordination  of  permitting  procedures  when  more  than  one  Competent  Authority  was 
involved in the permitting process. 

ii.  Large Combustion Plants Directive (LCPD) 

A substantial share of total SO2, NOX and dust emissions to air as well as of other pollutants 
such  as  mercury  originate  from  Large  Combustion  Plants  (LCPs).  Prior  to  the  IED,  LCPs 
were subject to specific legislation, the LCPD6. The IED repealed the LCPD and set stricter 
Emission Limit Values (ELVs).  

The LCPD enabled the Commission to request LCP emissions data annually. Since the 2013 
reporting year, Member States have reported annual emissions data to a database managed by 
the  European  Environment  Agency7.  The  Commission  continues  to  seek  opportunities  to 
streamline and simplify reporting requirements. One illustration is pre-population of the LCP 
database  with  identifiers  for  those  plants  used  for  the  European  Pollutant  Release  and 

5 Directive 2008/1/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control 
6 Directive 2001/80/EC on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion 
plants 
7 See: http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/lcp 

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Transfer  Register8  and  linking  with  the  previously  submitted  data  for  the  plant.  The  last 
reporting  year available is  2015. The annual  plant-by-plant data includes emissions of SO2, 
NOX and dust, plus the total energy input, related to the net calorific value, broken down by 
fuel  type.  From  the  2016  reporting  year,  LCP  reporting  under  the  LCPD  is  replaced  with 
reporting under the IED requiring more detailed information. 

iii.  Waste Incineration Directive (WID) 
Final reports under the WID9 were submitted by Member States for its last reporting period 
covering the years 2012-2013. Overall no major problems were identified with its operation. 

Solvent Emissions Directive (SED) 

iv. 
Final reports under the SED10 were submitted by Member States for its last reporting period 
covering  the  years  2012-2013.  Around  50  000  installations  are  covered  although  there  is 
some uncertainty on the exact  number. Overall, no  major  problems were identified  with  its 
operation, although some problems were identified related to the reporting of monitoring data 
from operators. 

Conclusions regarding the legacy legislation  

No major compliance issues with the legacy legislation have come to light. Nevertheless, a 
few  issues  mentioned  in  relation  to  the  IPPCD  may  warrant  further  investigation.  Despite 
improvements, the level of information reported remained incomplete, in particular numerical 
data related to the number of inspections (e.g. total number of installations visited, number of 
visits  including  emission  measurements).    This  might  partly  be  due  to  the  wording  of  the 
questions, which seems to have been understood differently by Member States. 

Several  Member  States  reported  insufficient  staff  to  deal  with  tasks  related  to  the  IPPCD 
implementation, in addition to financial constraints on the hiring and training of Competent 
Authority staff. This could be linked to the work transitioning from IPPCD to IED, therefore, 
it is possible that the workload for Competent Authorities would now be more manageable. 

Some  difficulties  were  reported  in  relation  to  the  interpretation  of  definitions,  raising 
questions whether installations would fall outside the scope of the IPPCD after either having 
shut  down  a  part  of  the  process  (partial  closure  of  the  installation)  or  having  permanently 
reduced their production capacity.  

One  important  issue  that  required  improvement  was  the  degree  of  BAT  uptake.  This  was 
addressed through introducing the obligation to update permits in line with BAT conclusions 
in the IED.  

3.  IED Implementation 

i.  Transposition status of IED 

The  Commission  has  received  all  Member  States'  national  transposing  legislation,  and  has 
assessed the completeness of transposition. 

8 Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning 
the  establishment  of  a  European  Pollutant  Release  and  Transfer  Register  and  amending  Council  Directives 
91/689/EEC and 96/61/EC  
9 Directive 2000/76/EC on the incineration of waste 
10 Directive 1999/13/EC on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic 
solvents in certain activities and installations 

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The Commission has also assessed the conformity with the IED of the transposition measures 
adopted  by  all  Member  States.  Where  ambiguous  or  erroneous  transposition  has  been 
identified, the Commission engaged in bilateral dialogues with the Member States concerned. 
To date twenty one such dialogues were launched.  

ii.  Member State reporting  

Commission Implementing Decision 2012/795/EU11 ('the Decision') sets out the details that 
Member States are required to report to the Commission on the implementation of the IED. 
Annex I  of that  Decision sets out the  requirements to be transmitted to the Commission  by 
September 2014, while Annex II defines the information required by September 2017. 

The Decision sets an objective for electronic reporting by Member States. To facilitate this, 
the Commission has contracted work on the necessary electronic reporting tools. In view of 
various  challenges  encountered,  there  is  a  delay  in  the  execution  of  these  projects  and 
consequently, reporting under Module 2 of Annex II of the Decision is delayed by one year 
from 30 September 2017 to 30 September 2018. For Modules 1, 3 and 4 reporting is delayed 
until February 2018. 

Member  States  have  submitted  information  required  by  Annex  I  of  the  Decision.  These 
returns  have  been  assessed  and  a  summary  report  has  been  published12.  While  all  Member 
States except Finland responded, the level of detail varied greatly. Some responses only made 
reference  to  transposing  legislation  while  others  were  detailed  and  comprehensive.  Overall, 
some  useful  information  was  provided  on  the  processes  and  steps  taken  towards  actual 
implementation of the IED. These include information on the criteria used for checking non-
compliance,  the  different  approaches  to  ensuring  that  BAT  conclusions  are  used  in  setting 
permit conditions and details of environmental inspection plans. 

Much more information is expected to be gathered in the next reporting period (covering the 
period  2014-2016)  as  BAT  conclusions  are  being  adopted  sector  by  sector  and  Member 
States will be in a position to provide further details on practical implementation issues.  

The  Commission  has  now  started  reflections  on  the  reporting  requirements  for  the  period 
beyond  2016.  This  will  take  into  account  the  change  to  electronic  reporting  and  lessons 
learned so far. Member States have been asked for their initial views on the future reporting 
requirements and the Commission expects to propose a new reporting Decision soon taking 
into  account  the  approach  outlined  in  the  communication  on  the  fitness  check  of 
environmental reporting13 and maximising synergies with the E-PRTR. 

iii.  BREFs 
All plants within the scope of Chapter II of the IED are obliged by its requirements to apply 
BAT. BREFs are at the heart of ensuring that BAT can be identified in an optimal way at EU 
level.  They  provide  a  level  playing  field  and  save  Member  States  from  having  to  carry  out 
their own assessments of BAT to meet their obligations under the IED. There are currently 31 
BREFs and two reference documents covering the activities in Annex I of the IED. So far 13 
of these BREFs have been updated under the IED. 

11 Commission Implementing Decision of 12 December 2012 establishing the type, format and frequency of 
information to be made available by the Member States for the purposes of reporting on the implementation 
of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on industrial emissions; OJ L 349, 
19.12.2012 p.57 
12 See footnote 2 
13 Actions to Streamline Environmental Reporting;  COM(2017) 312 

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The format of the BREFs was established under the IPPCD. In addition to an extension of the 
sectors  covered,  the  main  change  from  the  IPPCD  to  the  IED  was  a  formalisation  of  the 
information  exchange  between  the  Commission  and  stakeholders  to  identify  BAT  (also 
referred to as the 'Sevilla process'). BAT conclusions are the key element of BREFs as they 
describe BAT and contain binding Associated Emission Levels (BAT-AELs) linked with its 
use.  These  are  adopted  through  committee  procedure  after  which  the  Commission  adopts 
them  as  implementing  decisions.  BAT  conclusions  are  the  reference  for  Competent 
Authorities  setting  permit  conditions  for  installations  covered  by  the  IED.  They  provide 
information  to  decision  makers  about  relevant  techniques  that  are  economically  viable  and 
technically available to industry in order to improve their environmental performance. 

The  chart  below  provides  an  overview  of  the  cumulative  number  of  BAT  conclusions 
adopted since the coming into effect of the IED and the approximate cumulative number of 
installations that will be affected by these. BAT conclusions adopted to date cover more than 
half of the IED installations. 

The paragraphs below provide a brief overview of the main BREF-related issues. 

Overview of process and participation  
The  binding  status  of  BAT-AELs  contained  in  BAT  conclusions  has  meant  that  the 
information  exchange  process  to  generate  BREFs  has  become  more  focussed  on  the 
the  environmental 
collection  and  evaluation  of 
performance  levels  achieved  by  existing  plants.  The  exchange  of  technical  information  for 
each BREF takes place in a Technical Working Group (TWG), comprising Member States, 
industries  concerned,  environmental  NGOs  and  the  Commission.  The  TWG  is  led  and 
mediated by the EIPPCB. The procedures to be followed and other elements of the process 
are described in detail in a Commission Implementing Decision14 adopted under the IED. 

information  aimed  at  determining 

14 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 referred to in Directive 
2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on industrial emissions; OJ L 63, 2.3.2012, p. 1–39 

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Confidentiality 
Issues  of  confidentiality  can  arise  during  the  BREF  process.  In  principle,  EU  rules  on 
transparency  in  environmental  matters15,  based  on  the  Aarhus  Convention16  create  a  strong 
right of access to environmental information. However, information provided by industry on 
a  voluntary  basis  may  have  commercial  sensitivity.  In  accordance  with  the  obligation  of 
professional  secrecy,  which  also  follows  from  Article  339  of  the  TFEU17,  aggregation  or 
anonymisation  of  some  information  may  be  necessary,  provided  it  is  not  directly  linked  to 
emissions  to  the environment,  in  which  case an  overriding  public  interest  in  disclosure  and 
transparency is deemed to exist. Member States' Competent Authorities, which are bound by 
professional  secrecy  rules,  should  have  access  to  such  information  where  this  concerns 
installations in their territory. 

Better Regulation  
The  'Sevilla  process'  underpinning  the  development  of  BREFs  is  a  unique,  inclusive,  fact-
based technical process. Data is gathered through extensive questionnaires and then validated 
and checked with all stakeholders. Documents are circulated, commented and peer-reviewed 
by  TWG  participants  in  full  transparency.  Mark-ups  show  when  changes  have  been 
introduced.  Final  conclusions  are  agreed  by  consensus  in  the  TWG.  Where  diverging 
opinions  exist,  these  are  also  reported  in  the  final  BREF  in  accordance  with  the  criteria 
specified in the guidance on the information exchange process. The Commission believes that 
this  collaborative  approach,  while  not  necessarily  feasible  in  all  other  areas,  is  an  excellent 
example of Better Regulation in practice. 

Key Environmental Issues 
BREF reviews  focus on the areas  where the  greatest benefit will be achieved, the so-called 
"Key  Environmental  Issues"  (KEIs).  This  ensures  the  best  environmental  outcome  for  the 
efforts  put  into  the  process.  The  Commission  has  proposed  criteria  for  the  identification  of 
KEIS18  that  were  endorsed  by  the  IED  Article  13  Forum.  These  are:  the  environmental 
relevance  of  the  pollution;  the  significance  of  the  activity;  the  potential  to  identify  new 
techniques  to  significantly  improve  the  situation;  and  the  potential  to  define  BAT-AELs 
significantly improving environmental protection compared to the current situation.  

The EIPPCB has used these criteria to prepare subsequent BREF reviews. The Commission 
has  launched  a  service  contract  to  further  develop  the  methodology  and  implement  it  for  a 
number of upcoming BREF reviews. This will produce KEI background documents as input 
to the BREF review Kick-off Meetings and provide a solid basis for TWG decisions on KEIs. 

Assessing the information exchange process 
The  information  exchange  process  is  at  the  heart  of  BREF  production  and  review.  It 
generates  the  solid  evidence  base  for  decision-making.  In  the  case  of  the  most  extensive 
BREF  review  to  date  (on  Large  Combustion  Plants),  the  working  group  comprised  289 

15 Regulation (EC) N° 1367/2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to 
Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to 
Community institutions and bodies, OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p. 13 
16 UNECE convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in 
Environmental Matters of 25 June 1998 and approved by the Community on 17 February 2005 
17 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; OJ C 326, 26.10.2012, p. 47–390 
18 CIRCABC>Environment>IED>Library>ied_art_13_forum>8th Forum meeting 19 October 
2015>Presentations>5.1 Key environmental issues.pdf 

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members,  580  plant  level  questionnaires  were  completed,  24  site  visits  took  place,  225 
reports  and  case  studies  were  considered  and  8  510  comments  on  the  first  draft  were 
addressed. 

In  view  of  the  desire  to  enhance  its  functioning,  the  Commission,  jointly  with  the  German 
environment ministry, organised a workshop of the IED Article 13 Forum in Berlin in 2014 
focused  on  the  IED  information  exchange  process.  The  workshop  was  well-attended  and 
conclusions  from  it  have  been  published19.  The  workshop  reaffirmed  the  high  EU  added 
value and efficiency of the IED. It also suggested some practical improvements that are now 
being  implemented  in  BREF  reviews  e.g.  enhanced  use  of  webinars  to  facilitate  the 
participation of TWG members. 

iv.  Compliance promotion and implementation support 
The Commission aims to support Member States in ensuring effective application of the IED. 
In pursuit of this it carries out the following activities: 

Workshops with Member States and stakeholders 
It  is  useful  to  organise  meetings  with  Member  States  and  other  relevant  stakeholders  to 
review  IED  implementation  including  the  development  of  BREFs  and  BAT  conclusions. 
These have the merit of identifying early on areas where problems are encountered as well as 
agreeing common future approaches. 

Workshops  are  held  as  appropriate,  either  only  with  Member  States  focussed  on  legal 
implementation or also with stakeholders when wider issues are discussed. After the Berlin 
workshop with all Forum members, the second workshop in Copenhagen in 2016 was limited 
to Member States representatives. The Commission plans to continue this fruitful practice in 
2017 with a Member State workshop in Belgium.  

The  main  messages  from  the  Copenhagen  workshop  were  that  participants  considered  it  a 
useful  opportunity  to  benchmark  their  national  activities  and  invited  the  Commission  to 
review existing experience with regard to the derogation procedure under Article 15(4) of the 
IED. The presentations and a summary of the workshop have been published20.  

Furthermore,  more  technical  workshops  with  participation  of  experts  from  Member  States 
and  stakeholders  are  regularly  set-up  to  gather  views  on  ongoing  projects  and  studies. 
Specific  workshops  are  also  planned  in  2017  on  Emerging  Techniques  (with  Belgium  and 
Sweden) and BAT contribution to water policy (with Germany). 

Frequently Asked Questions  
An important task for the Commission is to assist Member States with the implementation of 
the IED. One tool used for this are frequently asked questions (FAQs), which are available on 
the Commission's website21. 

The Commission is working to expand and update these as appropriate including on a number 
of  specific  FAQs  whose  importance  was  identified  during  the  Copenhagen  workshop.  In 
particular, these address topics such as the use of BAT-AEL ranges; when BAT conclusions 
have to be complied with; and which BAT conclusions trigger permit reconsideration. 

19  CIRCABC>Environment>IED>Library>Berlin workshop on IED information exchange (Oct 2014) 
20 CIRCABC>env>ied>Library> Copenhagen workshop on Putting the IED into practice (13-14 April 2016)   
21 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/industry/stationary/ied/faq.htm  

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Supporting networks of national Competent Authorities 
The main responsibility for effective implementation of the requirements of the IED rests on 
national  Competent  Authorities.  Their  tasks  include  issuing  permits,  assessing  appropriate 
ELVs  and  other  conditions,  considering  derogation  requests  and  in  general  ensuring  that 
installations  are  correctly  operated.  The  Commission  supports  these  authorities  so  as  to 
ensure comparable, harmonised approaches at national level in line with the legislation.  

The Commission supports the work of the European Union Network for the Implementation 
and  Enforcement  of  Environmental  Law  (IMPEL)  which  runs  a  number  of  projects  in  the 
field  of  industrial  emissions22.  In  particular  these  relate  to: Supporting  IED  implementation 
IED Baseline Report; Experience of Derogations from IED BAT-AEL’s.  The Commission 
engages with Member State experts within the project meetings and values this knowledge-
sharing. 

Enforcement 
The approach taken to enforcement under the IED is considered to be very advanced. This is 
because  it  creates  strong  rights  for  citizens  to  have  access  to  relevant  information  and  to 
participate  in  the  permitting  process.  This  empowers  citizens,  and  NGOs,  to  ensure  that 
permits  are  appropriately  granted  and  their  conditions  respected.  It  is  clear  that  the 
Commission  could  not  actively  check  all  50  000  permits,  but  local  residents  have  a  vested 
interest in ensuring that they are appropriate and enforced. 

The  primary  responsibility  for  dealing  with  breaches  lies  with  the  Competent  Authorities. 
This  is  the  first  level  of  enforcement  and  it  is  the  relevant  Competent  Authority  that  a 
concerned citizen or NGO should approach. The permit review process is also important to 
provide periodic opportunities for neighbours or other affected parties to raise any concerns 
they may have and for these to be considered as part of the permit review. 

The IED creates rights for affected parties to challenge permit conditions and push for non-
routine  environmental  inspections.  This  approach  potentially  marshals  thousands  of 
individuals  to  oversee  the  operation  of  the  legislation.  The  Commission  considers  that 
national  administrative  or  judicial  bodies  are  primarily  responsible  for  verifying  specific 
situations of non-compliance and have the appropriate means to address these if the concerns 
are  found  justified.  The  Commission  would  mainly  intervene  in  the  event  of  systemic 
failings, or where breaches have a very significant environmental impact. 

v.  LCP transitional arrangements 

The  IED  has  brought  LCP  provisions  into  a  simplified  and  consistent  framework.  To 
facilitate the transition to these, the IED contains two main types of flexibility deviating from 
the overall requirements: 

  Transitional National Plans (TNPs) – TNPs are established at Member State level. 
Plants included in a Member State's TNP are subject to an overall emissions ceiling 
(declining linearly between 2016 and mid 2020). During this time the affected plants 
must nevertheless respect the LCPD ELVs. This flexibility provides more time (until 
mid-2020)  for  all  the  affected  plants  to  comply  with  the  ELVs  of  the  IED  and  also 
flexibility as to how the necessary upgrading investments are made to comply. As a 
result,  it  is  expected  that  compliance  costs  and  other  challenges  will  have  been 
reduced. This option has been used by 15 Member States. 

22 https://www.impel.eu/topics/industry-air/ 

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  Limited  life  time  derogations  –  This  flexibility  takes  account  of  situations  where 
plants are nearing the end of their life time and so it would be uneconomic to retrofit 
them to comply with IED ELVs. It allows an existing plant to continue to operate for 
a limited number of operating hours (not more than 17 500 hours) without additional 
investments until the end of 2023 while complying with the LCPD ELVs. When the 
limited life time derogation ends, the plant must be shut down or be upgraded to meet 
the conditions for a new plant. Limited life time derogations are used by 24 Member 
States. An extremely limited possibility allowed the limit to be 32 000 hours where a 
plant met a set of four criteria laid out in the IED.  

From 2017, Member States will annually report plant-by-plant data allowing the Commission 
to  monitor  the  correct  use  of  these  provisions.  The  final  lists  of  LCPs  using  the  various 
flexibilities are published on CIRCABC23. 

v. 

Innovation 

IED  Article  27  requires  Member  States  to  encourage  the  development  and  application  of 
emerging techniques and for the Commission to establish guidance to assist Member States in 
this. To this end, an "emerging techniques" section is contained in all BREFs.  

The  setting  of  ELVs  on  the  basis  of  BAT  and  its  generalisation  across  a  whole  industrial 
sector will mean that a larger scale market is created for the relevant BAT. This should lead 
to lower costs and enable the benefits to be achieved more cost effectively. 

Business  opportunities also  arise  for companies providing  emission  reduction  techniques as 
they  will  be  able  to  sell  into  larger  markets  if  their  techniques  provide  BAT  performance. 
Since BAT is increasingly being used at a global scale, these opportunities exist worldwide. 
Synergies with other programmes such as LIFE24 projects may be possible. Efforts are being 
made  to  check  that  relevant  LIFE  projects  promote  advanced  techniques  and  to  ensure  that 
successful demonstrations feed back into the BREF review process. 

The  Commission  is  interested  in  gaining  a  deeper  understanding  of  all  these  effects  and 
therefore  plans  to  continue  work  in  this  field,  in  particular  through  testing  an  innovation 
observatory. 

vi.  Expansion of knowledge base 
The  Commission  continues  to  develop  its  knowledge  of  the  environmental  impacts  of  the 
industrial  sectors  covered  by  the  IED.  This  helps  to  support  understanding  of  the  areas  to 
focus  on  and  enhances  assessment  of  the  legislation.  To  do  this,  the  Commission  seeks  as 
wide a range of sources of information as possible. In particular information comes from: 

Member State reporting 
A key source  of knowledge  on the impacts of the IED comes directly from Member  States 
through  their  formal  implementation  reports  submitted  to  the  Commission.  This  report  is 
based on Member State reports submitted in 2014.  

23 EUROPA > European Commission>CIRCABC> env > ied > Library > IED Derogations_Lists and EUROPA > 
European Commission>CIRCABC> env> ied > Library > TNPs 
24 LIFE is the EU’s financial instrument supporting environmental, nature conservation and climate action 
projects throughout the EU. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/  

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Supporting analysis 
The Commission continues to carry out in-depth assessments of sectors covered by the IED 
and  the  application  and  impacts  of  BAT  in  those  sectors.  It  has  completed  a  number  of 
analyses in recent years to improve its knowledge base. These reports have been published at 
the 'Studies' tab on the CIRCABC IED site25.  

Analysis confirms the substantial share of industry in many types of air and water pollutant 
emissions.  It  also  shows  that  there  has  been  an  evolution  of  emission  control  technologies 
over time, with a number of techniques progressing from 'emerging' status to proven BAT.  

In  its  preparatory  work  for  the  Commission  to  develop  the  National  Emissions  Ceilings 
Directive,  an  approach  was  developed  using  the  precursor  emissions  of  PM2.5  (i.e.  primary 
PM2.5,  SO2,  NOX,  NH3  and  VOC)  to  develop  a  measure  of  PM-equivalent  impacts  on 
premature  mortality  from  fine  particulate  matter  at  the  EU  scale26.  The  Commission  has 
prepared  a  preliminary  assessment  of  trends  in  industrial  emissions,  based  upon  reporting 
under  E-PRTR  and  upon  PM-equivalent  figures.  The  graph  below  shows  the  trend  in 
emissions for the whole of the E-PRTR installations as well as only for LCPs. While this only 
considers  one  environmental  aspect  (emissions  to  air)  and  only  a  sub-set  of  its  impacts,  it 
nevertheless shows a promising trend27. 

With regard to assessing the overall emission reductions from individual BAT conclusions, it 
has proved much harder to reach definitive conclusions. The Commission continues to carry 
out  analytical  work  in  this  field  and  a  workshop  with  stakeholders  was  held  in  2016. 
Nonetheless, it is clear that assessments at EU level can only be rather general while Member 
States can, and do, carry out their own more detailed assessments. 

25 EUROPA > European Commission>CIRCABC> env> ied>Library> studies 
26 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/pdf/TSAP-15.pdf 
27 The emissions shown are total figures and have not been normalised to account for changes in production. 
The Commission intends to carry out further work to develop better indicators of progress in this area 

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International application of BAT 

vii. 
In  the  international  context,  the  IED,  BREFs  and  BAT  conclusions  are  considered  an  EU 
contribution  to  the  global  process  initiated  at  the  2002  World  Summit  on  Sustainable 
Development. This enables non-European countries to also benefit from this ambitious work. 
For example, some countries translate EU BREFs for their own use. 

The  more  widely  that  BAT  concepts  are  used  in  environmental  control,  the  greater  the 
resource  and  evidence  base  for  making  decisions  and  identifying  BAT  and  the  consequent 
market forces that will develop for the production, deployment and improvement of BAT. A 
wider  international  uptake  of  BAT-like  approaches  will  also  lead  to  more  harmonised 
competitive  conditions.  Countries  spend  significant  resources  in  implementing,  reviewing 
and updating information on advanced industrial practices and technology for preventing and 
controlling  pollution  so  it  is  desirable  to  ensure  a  cross-fertilisation  of  knowledge  and 
practices. 

In view of this, one strand of the Commission's work relating to the IED has been to support 
organisations in other parts of the world using, or interested in, BAT and to share information 
and  experience  with  them.  The  Commission  has  supported  work  ongoing  in  Israel,  Russia 
and South Korea as they seek to develop industrial permitting regimes broadly based on the 
EU  BAT  and  BREF  approaches.  The  Commission  has  also  supported  the  Energy 
Community28  in  its  steps  to  implement  the  environmental  goals  of  the  IED  for  Large 
Combustion Plants. 
With a view to wider outreach, the Commission also supports an OECD project29 in this field 
and  supports  use  of  the  BAT  concept  in  multilateral  environmental  agreements  (e.g.  the 
Minamata Convention). 

4.  Conclusions 

This report provides the first Commission overview of IED implementation and its ongoing 
activities. The Commission draws a number of conclusions from the information provided: 

  The IED is a good example of better regulation. It merged and simplified 7 pieces of 
EU  legislation  and  created  a  rather  unique,  highly  transparent  and  collaborative 
process for preparing BREFs; 

  While it is too early to see the practical results of the change to the IED, progress is 

encouraging; 

  Trends in industrial emissions appear promising; 
  The Commission's focus in the next 4 years is on finalising BAT conclusions for all 
industrial sectors, monitoring the use of LCP flexibilities and pro-actively supporting 
Member States with implementation.  

In  addition  to  continuing  with  the  activities  described  in  this  report,  the  Commission 
considers it appropriate to reflect how the work on IED implementation should evolve in the 
longer term and at what point it would be appropriate to take stock of achievements and to 
consider  the  scope  for  improvement.  By  2020,  the  Commission  will  have  received  further 
reports from Member States and most BAT conclusions will have been adopted. Furthermore, 

28 https://www.energy-community.org/ 
29 http://www.oecd.org/chemicalsafety/risk-management/best-available-techniques.htm  

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most of the LCP transitional arrangements will be close to their final deadlines. This would 
appear an appropriate time to consider the launch of a full evaluation of the IED. 

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