CELEX: 51996PC0306
Language: en
Date: 1996-06-24
Title: Re-examined proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE on integrated pollution prevention and control

**•$=
          COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                            Brussels, 24.06.1996
                                            COM(%) 306 final - SYN 526
                      Re-examined proposal for a
                       COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
               on integrated pollution prevention and control
      (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 c (d)
                           of the EC Treaty)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                   EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
 On 14 September 1993 the Commission adopted a "Proposal for a Council Directive on Integrated
 Pollution Prevention and Control".(l) OJ C311, 17.11.93
 The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 27 April 1994. (2) OJ CI95, 18.7.94
 The European Parliament delivered its opinion at first reading on 14 December 1994. (3) OJ CI8,
 23.1.95
 On 15 May 1995 the Commission adopted an amended proposal under Article 189a(2) of the EC
 Treaty, incorporating a number of the amendments proposed by the European Parliament. (4) OJ C165,
 1.7.95
 On 27 November 1995 the Council adopted a common position on the Commission's amended
 proposal. (5) OJ C87, 25.3.96
The European Parliament examined the Council's common position at second reading on 22 May 1996
and approved it subject to 31 proposed amendments.
The Commission has examined the amendments proposed by the European Parliament at second
reading, incorporating a number of them into the present reexamined proposal.
The Commission's position on the amendments approved by Parliament at second reading is as
follows.
Amendments accepted by the Commission
Amendment 14 on Article 2(11) on definition of "best" in the concept of "best available techniques"
deletes a superfluous phrase.
Amendments 16 and 17 (article 3 paragraphs (b) and (f)) clarify the obligations of the operator
regarding pollution control and on cessation of activities. Respect for human health was already
implicit by virtue of its inclusion in the directive's definition of pollution, but a slightly modified form
Parliament's proposal is included to make this explicit.
 amendments 18 and 21 (article 6(1), first indent and new 2nd subparagraph respectively) make more
explicit the information which must be included in the permit application. The first is a minor
modification, but the second is a useful provision regarding a non-technical summary of the rest of
the information provided which will increase accessibility to the public and therefore transparency.
Amendment 28 (article 13(1)) relates to the periodicity of permit review. The Commission accepts
the principle of Parliament's amendment that a maximum period between revisions should be specified.
However five years is too short and the Commission therefore reverts to its original proposal of a ten-
year review period.
Amendment 30 (article 15(1) first subparagraph) relates to the public information provisions of the
directive. The Commission accepts the tie-in with the EIA Directive proposed by Parliament with a
 ---pagebreak--- slightly modified wording to take account of the specific provisions of that Directive.
Amendment 39 (Annex I point 3.5) relates to the ceramic industry. Part of this amendment simply
corrects translation errors. The significant part is the phrase "setting density per kiln". This reflects
the fact that setting density, being a measurement of density, is kiln-specific and cannot be aggregated
for the installation as a whole.
Amendment 42 (Annex I point 6.7) relates to solvent using industries. The text proposed in the
reexamined proposal has the same effect as that proposed by Parliament, and aligns the IPPC text with
the threshold criterion the Commission proposes to use in its forthcoming proposal for the control of
VOC emissions from certain stationary sources.
Amendments not accepted by the Commission
A group of 7 amendments - 4,5,8,15,24,49 and 52 - cannot be accepted because they would
fundamentally distort the integrated approach. The obligation to consider local environmental
conditions, which would be removed by amendments 4, 5 and 24, is essential to produce the optimised
pollution control solution which is the goal of the Directive. Incorporation of the principle of costs
and advantages in the definition of BAT, which would be deleted or distorted by amendments 49 and
52, is also essential, as that definition determines the level of effort under the Directive, and without
the reference to costs and benefits there would be no proportionality to the controls. Moreover every
Member State makes this balance in practice in setting its own controls, and it is reasonable to
recognise this at Community level also. Mandating the Commission to produce uniform emission limit
value directives in every case, which would be the effect of amendment 8, would again distort the
potential for local optimisation, although the Commission will propose such directives where
necessary.
The remaining 15 amendments - 2,7,10,19,20,22,32,33,34,35,37,44,46,54,57 - proposed a large number
of small drafting changes. These are not included because they are already reflected elsewhere in the
Common Position, or because they are out of keeping with the proposal for legal or technical reasons.
In accordance with Article 189C(d) of the EC Treaty, the Commission modifies as follows the text
of the Common Position on its proposal concerning integrated pollution prevention and control, in
order to include the accepted amendments in the Common Position.
 ---pagebreak---                                  REEXAMINED PROPOSAL FOR A
                                       COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
                            on integrated pollution prevention and control
  COMMON POSITION                                       AMENDED TEXT
 Citations                                              Unchanged
 Recitals                                               Unchanged
 Article 1                                              Unchanged
 Article 2ri 1> first subparagraph
 "best available techniques" shall mean the most        "best available techniques shall mean the most
 effective and advanced stage in the                   effective and advanced stage in the
 development of activities and their methods of        development of activities and their methods of
 operation which indicate the practical                operation which indicate the practical
 suitability of particular techniques for              suitability of particular techniques for
providing in principle the basis for emission          providing the basis for emission limit values
 limit values designed to prevent, and where           designed to prevent and, where that is not
that is not practicable, generally to reduce           practicable, generally to reduce emissions and
emissions and the impact on the environment            the impact on the environment as a whole.
as a whole.
Article 3(b)
(b) no significant pollution is caused;               (b) no significant pollution, including in
                                                      particular harm to human health, is caused;
Article 3ffl
(f) the necessary measures are taken upon             (f) the necessary measures are taken upon
definitive cessation of activities to avoid any       significant cessation of activities to avoid any
pollution risk and return the site of operation       pollution risk, including in particular risk to
to a satisfactory state.                              human health, and return the site of operation
                                                      to a satisfactory state.
Article 4                                             Unchanged
Article 5                                             Unchanged
Article 6(1), first indent
- the installation and its activities;                - the installation and the nature and extent of
                                                      its activities;
 ---pagebreak---                                                    Article 6(1), 2nd subparagraph (new)
                                                   An application for a permit shall also include
                                                   a non-technical summary of the details referred
                                                   to in the above indents.
Article 7                                          Unchanged
Article 8                                          Unchanged
Article 9                                          Unchanged
Article 10                                         Unchanged
Article 11                                         Unchanged
Article 12                                         Unchanged
Article 13(1)
Member States shall take the necessary             Member States shall take the necessary
measures to ensure that competent authorities      measure to ensure that competent authorities
periodically reconsider and where necessary        periodically, and at the latest ten years from
update permit conditions.                          the start-up of the operation, and at least once
                                                   every ten years thereafter, reconsider and
                                                   where necessary update permit conditions.
                                                   Where a permit is updated for one of the
                                                   reasons set out in paragraph 2. the ten-year
                                                   period shall run from the date of the updating
                                                   of the permit.
Article 14                                         Unchanged
Article 15(1). first subparagraph
 1. Without prejudice to Council Directive         1. Without prejudice to Council Directive
90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom of        90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom of
access to information on the environment,          access to information on the environment,
Member States shall take the necessary             Member States shall take the necessary
measures to ensure that applications for permits   measures to ensure that applications for permits
for new installations or for substantial changes   for new installations or for substantial changes
are made available for an appropriate period of    are made available for an appropriate period of
time to the public, to enable it to comment on     time to the public, together with any relevant
them before the competent authority reaches its    information obtained or conclusion arrived at
decision.                                          pursuant to Articles 5. 6 and 7 of Directive
                                                   85/337/EEC where article 4 of that Directive
                                                   applies, to enable it to comment on them
                                                   before the competent authority reaches its
                                                   decision.
Article 16                                         Unchanged
Article 17                                         Unchanged
                                                 s
 ---pagebreak---  Article IS                                        Unchanged
 Article 19                                        Unchanged
 Article 20                                        Unchanged
Article 21                                         Unchanged
Article 22                                         Unchanged
Article 23                                         Unchanged
ANNEX 1(3,5)
3.5      Installations for the manufacture of      3.5    Installations for the manufacture of
         ceramic products ^ by burning in                 ceramic products by firing in particular
         particular roofing tiles, bricks,                roofing tiles, bricks, refractory bricks,
         refractory bricks, tiles, stoneware or           tiles, stoneware or porcelain, with a
         porcelain, with a production capacity            production capacity exceeding 75
         exceeding 75 tonnes per day, and/or              tonnes per day, and/or with a kiln
         with a kiln capacity exceeding 4m3               capacity exceeding 4m3 and with a
         and exceeding a loading density of 300           setting density per kiln exceeding 300
         kg/m3.                                           kg/m3.
ANNEX 1(6.7)
6.7      Installations for the surface treatment   6.7    Installations for the surface treatment
         of substances, objects or products               of substances, objects or products
         using organic solvents, in particular for        using organic solvents, in particular for
         dressing, printing, coating, degreasing,         dressing, printing, coating, degreasing,
         waterproofing,      sizing, painting,           waterproofing,       sizing, painting,
         cleaning or impregnating, with a                cleaning or impregnating, with a
         consumption capacity of more than               solvent consumption of more than
         150kg per hour or more than 200                  150kg per hour or more than 200
        tonnes per year.                                 tonnes per year.
ANNEX II                                           Unchanged
ANNEX III                                          Unchanged
ANNEX IV                                           Unchanged
 ---pagebreak---                                                                     ISSN 0254-1475
                                                             COM(96) 306 final
                                              DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                             14
                                    Catalogue number : CB-CO-96-315-EN-C
                                                              ISBN 92-78-05842-4
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
L-2985 Luxembourg
                                                    ~\-