COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) DIRECTIVE 2010/75/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control)
Date: 2020-09-23
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, air quality, environmental impact, environmental monitoring, industrial pollution, prevention of pollution, reduction of gas emissions, waste incineration, water pollution

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 23.9.2020  SWD(2020) 182 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) DIRECTIVE 2010/75/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated  pollution prevention and control)  {SWD(2020) 181 final}  
 
 
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
Evaluation of Directive 2010/75/EU 

The Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU (IED) addresses the environmental and human 
health  impacts  from  industrial  emissions.  It  regulates  around  52  000  of  the  largest  EU 
installations covering a range of agro-industrial sectors. 

The  IED  objective  is  to  prevent,  reduce  and  eliminate  as  far  as  possible  emissions  into  air, 
water  and  soil  from  industrial  activities.  It  also  aims  to  avoid  distortion  of  competition  by 
ensuring consistent environmental requirements, and to stimulate innovation. 

The main IED principles are: an integrated approach, use of Best Available Techniques (BAT), 
permitting, monitoring and inspections, public participation and access to justice. A particular 
feature  is  the  participative  BREF  process,  involving  all  stakeholders  to  develop  BAT 
Reference documents (BREFs). The chapters on BAT conclusions of each BREF are adopted 
as Commission implementing acts that form the basis for setting permit conditions. 

The IED has been effective in reducing the environmental impacts and in reducing competitive 
distortions in the EU. The collaborative process for producing BREFs and identifying BAT has 
worked well; this is recognised as a model of collaborative governance. 

The IED has led to substantially reduced pollutant emissions to air and, to a lesser degree, to 
water.  It  minimised  emissions  to  soil  from  IED  installations.  Its  impacts  on  resource 
efficiency, the circular economy and innovation are harder to assess; it appears to have made a 
positive contribution of limited magnitude. Other aspects, such as public access to information 
and access to justice, have somewhat improved. 

The IED is largely efficient. The benefits of BAT conclusions substantially outweigh costs. No 
disproportionate  or  unnecessary  administrative  costs  have  been  identified.  There  are  mixed 
impacts on EU competitiveness; no evidence shows these would be significant. 

All stakeholder groups consider the IED relevant. It can respond to emerging environmental 
issues, despite the length of the BREF processes. Whilst the IED has not contributed greatly to 
decarbonisation, there are divergent views about whether it is relevant for this. 

The IED is coherent internally and with other EU policies, however there is scope for greater 
contribution to those. Some interpretation challenges require clarification. 

The  IED  provides  significant  EU  added  value.  It  ensures  a  more  consistent  approach  to 
industrial  pollution  reduction  requirements  and  their  monitoring  and  enforcement,  thus 
reducing internal market distortions. Absence of EU action would have led to less demanding 
standards,  impacting  the  human  health  and  the  environment.  The  IED  BAT  system  is  not 
replicable by individual Member States, and is increasingly being used by third countries. The 
IED’s decentralised approach is consistent with the subsidiarity and proportionality principles. 

The evaluation has identified a number of areas where the performance of the Directive does 
not  appear  to  be  as  satisfactory  as  expected  or  does  not  target  as  precisely  the  new  policy 
objectives set out in the European Green Deal. These areas will be central to the review of the 
IED announced in the European Green Deal Communication. Work has already started on the 
Impact Assessment with an Inception Impact Assessment published in March 2020. 

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