CELEX: 51988PC0559
Language: en
Date: 1988-10-18
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE DISPOSAL OF POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS AND POLYCHLORINATED TERPHENYLS

12. 12. 88                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                      No C 319/57
               Proposal for a Council Directive on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated
                                                             terphenyls
                                                  COM(88) 559 final — SYN 161
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 3 November              1988)
                                                           (88/C 319/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             Whereas Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on
                                                                     waste (5), as amended by Directive..., concerns the disposal
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                of waste in general; whereas this Directive contains specific
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100A                   Community rules and can be regarded as a special Directive
thereof,                                                             within the meaning of Directive 75/442/EEC;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                   Whereas Council Directive 75/439/EEC of 16 July 1975 on
                                                                     the disposal of waste oils (6), as amended by Directive 87/
                                                                     101/EEC (7), lays down 50 ppm as the maximum limit for
In cooperation with the European Parliament,
                                                                     the PCB or PCT content of waste oils and PCBs must hence
                                                                     be defined in the light of that level irrespective of the
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social              mixture concerned;
Committee,
                                                                     Whereas the marketing of PCBs is now prohibited and
Whereas divergences between the laws of the Member                   whereas substitutes are commercially available; whereas
States on the disposal of PCBs may lead to distortions of            regeneration should consequently be prohibited;
competition and, as a result, have a direct impact on the
establishment and functioning of the internal market;
whereas it is hence necessary to approximate laws in this            Whereas PCB are widely dispersed in the environment and
field;                                                               they are known to have harmful effects on human health
                                                                     and the environment and whereas it is consequently
                                                                     necessary to prohibit any uncontrolled operation involving
Whereas Council Directive 76/403/EEC of 6 April 1976 on
                                                                     PCBs;
the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and poly-
chlorinated terphenyls (J) constituted a preliminary ap-
proximation of the laws of the Member States in this field;
                                                                     Whereas PCBs should be disposed of in a manner which
whereas these rules have not proved sufficient; whereas the
                                                                     ensures that they are prevented as far as possible from being
state of the art has evolved to a point where disposal
                                                                     dispersed in the environment and whereas it is necessary to
conditions can be improved and a high level of environ-
                                                                     lay down minimum conditions under which licences are
mental protection can be taken as a basis; whereas that
                                                                     granted to firms which carry out their disposal;
Directive should therefore be replaced by a new Directive;
Whereas the safe disposal of unavoidable waste is one of             Whereas the number of PCB disposal plants is small and
the objectives of Community waste management policy as               their capacity limited and whereas consequently disposal
set out in the second action programme on the environment            programmes for used PCBs must be drawn up to ensure
and confirmed in the fourth programme ( 2 );                         proper planning of PCB disposal;
Whereas Council Directive 76/769/EEC of 27 July 1976 on              W h e r e a s it is essential to k n o w w h a t quantities of PCBs
the approximation of the laws, regulations and adminis-              exist in order to be able to m a t c h disposal capacity to needs
trative provisions of the Member States relating to                  and it is therefore necessary to label e q u i p m e n t containing
restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous           PCBs and to compile an inventory of P C B s ;
substances and preparations (3), as last amended by
Council Directive 85/610/EEC (4), underlines the need for
a periodic review of the whole problem with a view to                W h e r e a s the replacement of PCBs in e q u i p m e n t by other
moving gradually towards the complete removal of PCBs                fluids is a difficult o p e r a t i o n and m a y not be fully carried
and PCTs;                                                            out a n d whereas it is consequently essential to define rules
                                                                     governing this operation,
(!) OJ No L 108, 26. 4. 1976, p. 41.
(2) OJ No C 328, 7. 12. 1987, p.l.                                   (5) OJ No L 194, 25. 7. 1975, p. 39.
(3) OJ No L 262, 27. 9. 1976, p. 201.                                (6) OJ No L 194, 25. 7. 1975, p. 23.
(4) OJ No L 375, 31. 12. 1985, p. 1.                                 (7) OJ No L 42, 12. 2. 1987, p. 43.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 319/58                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 12. 12. 88
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                        2. Member States may authorize PCBs contained in
                                                                   electric transformers to be treated only if:
                           Article 1                               (a) the purpose of this treatment is to ensure, when such
                                                                        transformers are maintained, that the PCBs they
The purpose of this Directive is to approximate the laws of             contain comply with technical rules or specifications
the Member States on the controlled disposal of PCBs and                regarding dielectric quality;
equipment or objects contaminated by PCBs in order to
reduce and prevent pollution.                                      (b) such treatment is carried out by an authorized
                                                                        undertaking; and
                           Article 2                               (c) the transformer is in good working order and does not
                                                                        leak.
For the purposes of this Directive:
(a) 'PCBs' means:
                                                                                              Article 5
     — polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB),
                                                                   By way of derogation from Article 7 of Directive 75/442/
     — polychlorinated terphenyls (PCT),
                                                                   EEC, Member States shall take the necessary measures to
                                                                   ensure that holders of used PCBs or of equipment
     — any mixture containing more than 0,005 % by
                                                                   containing PCBs who have not been authorized pursuant to
        weight of PCBs and/or PCTs.
                                                                   Article 6:
(b) 'Used PCBs' means any PCBs which are waste within
     the meaning of Directive 75/442/EEC.                          — transfer them as soon as possible to an undertaking
                                                                       authorized pursuant to Article 6,
(c) 'Equipment containing PCBs' means any apparatus or
     equipment containing PCBs or having contained PCBs            — take steps to ensure that they are kept away from
     which has not been decontaminated or any object                   equipment or containers containing flammable sub-
     contaminated by PCBs. Until proof to the contrary is              stances.
     provided, equipment containing a fluid which has not
     been identified shall be treated as equipment contain-
     ing PCBs.
                                                                                              Article 6
(d) 'Holder' means any person holding PCBs and/or
     holding or using equipment containing PCBs.                   1. The licence referred to in Article 8 of Directive 75/442/
                                                                   EEC shall be issued only to PCB disposal establishments or
(e) 'Decontamination' means all operations which enable            undertakings which satisfy at least the conditions laid
     equipment, objects or materials contaminated by PCBs          down in Annex 1 hereto.
     to be reused or recycled.
                                                                   2. Used PCBs and equipment containing PCBs must be
(f) 'Replacement' means all operations in which PCBs are
                                                                   transported in accordance with the provisions of Council
     replaced by suitable fluids not containing PCBs.
                                                                   Directive 84/631/EEC (!) and as described in Annex 2
                                                                   hereto.
                           Article 3                               3. Any undertaking or establishment which engages in
                                                                   decontamination or which replaces PCBs by other fluids
Member States shall take the necessary measures to
                                                                   shall require a licence issued by the competent authorities
prohibit:
                                                                   of the Member States.
— the uncontrolled disposal of PCBs, used PCBs or
    equipment containing PCBs,                                     4. Member States shall notify the Commission of the
                                                                   names, addresses, telephone and telex numbers and
— the mixing of waste containing PCBs with other waste             disposal capacities of the undertakings authorized to
    or substances prior to transfer to a disposal under-           dispose of PCBs and of any change in this information. The
    taking,                                                        Commission shall publish this information in the Official
                                                                   Journal of the European Communities.
— the incineration of PCBs on incinerator ships from 1995.
                                                                   5. Licences issued by the competent authorities of a
                                                                   Member State pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 3 shall be
                           Article 4                               recognized by the other Member States.
1. By way of derogation from Article 3 of Directive 75/
442/EEC Member States shall prohibit regeneration.                 (!) OJ No L 326, 13. 12. 1984, p. 31.
 ---pagebreak--- 12. 12. 88                             Official Journal of the         Communities                           No C 319/59
                          Article 7                            ment Committee set up by the Commission Decision 76/
                                                               431/EEC C1), draw up plans such as those referred to in
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to          Article 6 of Directive 75/442/EEC relating to:
ensure that:
                                                               — the disposal of used PCBs and equipment containing
(a) PCBs are replaced by other fluids only if other solutions
                                                                   PCBs,
     would entail greater risks;
                                                               — the collection of capacitors containing less than 7 dm 3 of
(b) the minimum conditions laid down in Annex 3 are
                                                                   PCBs or equipment containing such capacitors.
     observed if the PCBs contained in equipment are
     replaced;                                                 Member States shall notify these plans to the Commission
(c) equipment in which fluids are replaced is properly         without delay.
     decontaminated;
(d) equipment in which fluids are replaced is clearly and                                Article 11
     indelibly marked as specified in Annex 4;                 Member States shall implement:
(e) any equipment in which PCBs have been replaced is          (a) for holders of PCBs and equipment containing PCBs,
     treated as containing PCBs for the purposes of its             information programmes on the hazards of PCBs to
     disposal, unless proof to the contrary is provided.            human health and the environment and on the
2. Member States may prohibit the replacement of PCBs               precautions to be taken to ensure protection;
in their territory.
                                                               (b) for members of the emergency services, training
                                                                    programmes on measures to be taken in the event of
                          Article 8                                 accidents involving PCBs;
The reference method of measurement to determine the           (c) for the general public, information campaigns concern-
PCB content and the adaptation to technical progress of the         ing PCBs.
Annexes shall be decided by the Commission after
consulting the Committee for adaptation to technical
progress established pursuant to Article 12b of Directive                                Article 12
75/442/EEC and in accordance with the procedure laid
                                                               1. Directive 76/403/EEC is hereby repealed with effect
down in Article 12c of that Directive.
                                                               from 1 January 1990.
                          Article 9                            2. References to the Directive repealed under paragraph 1
                                                               shall be construed as references to this Directive.
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to          References to the Articles of that Directive shall be read in
ensure that any equipment containing PCBs is labelled in       accordance with the table in Annex 7.
accordance with Annex 5. This label must also be affixed to
the door of premises or rooms where equipment containing
more than 8 dm 3 of PCBs is located.                                                     Article 13
2. Member States shall compile inventories of equipment        1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to
containing more than 8 dm 3 of PCBs. They shall take the       comply with this Directive from 1 January 1990. They shall
necessary measures to ensure that holders of such              forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
equipment notify the competent authorities of the
quantities which they hold. Annex 6 sets out the rules for     2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission
compiling and publishing an inventory and a model of the       the texts of the provisions of national law which they adopt
PCB inventory form to be completed by holders.                 in the field governed by this Directive. The Commission
                                                               shall inform the other Member States thereof.
3. Member States shall send a summary of these
inventories to the Commission.
                                                                                         Article 14
                         Article 10                            This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
Member States shall, within three years of the notification
of this Directive and after consulting the Waste Manage-       (!) OJ No L 115, 1. 5. 1976, p. 73.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 319/60                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                              12. 12. 88
                                                              ANNEX      1
                               A. INSTALLATIONS FOR THE FINAL DESTRUCTION OF PCBs
          1. These installations shall be designed and maintained according to standards of the best available technology
              not entailing excessive costs. They shall be operated at all times to ensure that all outflows of solids, fluids or
              gases do not contain PCBs or products arising from their incomplete (partial) oxidation.
          2. All these installations shall be operated in such a way as to ensure that the specific process parameters are
              continuously maintained and there are sufficient excess reactants to ensure that the reactions reach a safe
              level of completion.
          3. In addition to the general requirements outlined above the following conditions must be observed for
              incineration installations:
              (a) conventional (open) incineration installations shall be equipped with safety back-up systems to ensure a
                   continued supply of energy and reactants in the event of failure in normal sources of supply in order to
                   maintain safe reaction conditions as long as toxic materials remain in the installation or until the
                   normal supply can be restored;
              (b) the installations shall be equipped with automatic continuous monitoring equipment, the operation of
                   which shall be able to override the operation of the installation and trigger its safety equipment. The
                   monitoring equipment shall be protected from manual interference and shall be designed for regular
                   automatic calibration; it shall be connected to sufficient sensors to enable it to make good
                   representative measurements;
              (c) the incinerator must totally destroy the molecules of toxic substances. For this purpose conventional
                   incineration installations must be equipped with post-combustion chambers with swirl devices. A
                   minimum temperature of 1 200 °C must be maintained in this chamber during combustion and the
                   residence time of the gases must have an oxygen content of 3 % by volume;
              (d) where the process does not use post-combustion, incineration efficiency must be comparable to that of
                   conventional incineration.
            B. INSTALLATIONS FOR THE COLLECTION AND TEMPORARY STORAGE OF PCBs AND OF
                                                EQUIPMENT CONTAINING PCBs
          1. Such installations shall be approved and their operation monitored by the competent local authorities; they
              shall satisfy national requirements for safety at work.
          2. All sites where containers, materials or equipment containing PCBs are handled or stored shall have
              impervious bases capable of supporting any foreseeable load and able to contain any leakage of PCBs.
          3. Such sites and structures must comply with the fire prevention and protection requirements approved by the
              competent authorities (fire service). Containers for PCBs shall be impermeable, have double walls and be
              labelled.
          4. The leak containment capacity shall be not less than half the maximum PCB storage capacity and greater
              than the total volume of the largest single mass of PCBs contained in the largest piece of equipment.
          5. Such structures shall be covered to prevent the entry of atmospheric precipitation and equipped with a
              special drainage system to collect all contaminated liquids to prevent their escape into the local drainage
              system.
 ---pagebreak--- 12. 12. 88                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                        No C 319/61
                                                                ANNEX      2
                             TRANSPORT OF USED PCBs AND EQUIPMENT CONTAINING PCBs
           1. Where the relevant international transport agreements which appears in Annex II to Directive 84/631/
               EEC (*) on transfrontier shipment of dangerous and toxic substances, or codes make specific mention of
               PCBs the requirements of these agreements and codes shall apply to national and international transport.
           2. Where there is no specific mention of PCBs in the relevant international transport agreements or codes, the
               requirements of class 6.1, item 17b, of the ADR and RID shall apply to the national and international
               transport of PCBs by road and rail respectively. The requirements of class IVa of the ADNR shall apply to
               the transport of PCBs by inland waterway.
           3. When more than 50 ppm of PCBs are present in a mixture with another dangerous substance such as
               petroleum oil which must satisfy different packaging, labelling or transport requirements, the more
               stringent requirements shall apply and the two substances must be marked. PCB containers must close
               hermetically and have absorbent material in their base.
           (!) OJ No L 326, 13. 12. 1984.
                                                               ANNEX       3
                                                  REPLACING PCBs IN EQUIPMENT
           1. Equipment containing PCBs must be drained, cleaned and refilled without polluting the environment in any
               way.
           2. Equipment containing PCBs may be refilled only with a suitable fluid which does not contain PCBs.
           3. A single item of equipment situated in the vicinity of other equipment which still contains PCBs should not
               be filled with a substitute fluid with an ignition point under 300 °C.
           4. The PCBs contained in a substitute fluid must be physically or chemically separable.
           5. The level of contamination of the new fluid by residual PCBs in the equipment shall not exceed 500 ppm.
           6. During the time required for the residual PCBs to infiltrate the new fluid, the equipment in question shall
               continue to carry the label to be affixed to equipment containing PCBs shown in Annex 5 while it is in
               operation and until such time as the new fluid has been shown to have a contamination level below 500 ppm
               for a period of at least 90 days.
           7. When the equipment which has been refilled in accordance with the above provisions has been shown to
               contain a fluid that is not contaminated with more than 500 ppm of PCBs, during the rest of its lifetime an
               indelible and clearly visible sign shall be fixed to it as set out in Annex 4.
           8. At the end of the life of such refilled equipment the fluid shall be analyzed. If it contains more than 50 ppm of
               PCBs, the equipment and fluid shall be disposed of according to the method laid down for the destruction of
               PCBs. If some components of the equipment have levels of less than 50 ppm of PCBs after decontamination
               they may be recycled.
           9. Member States shall ensure that adequate analytical services are available to owners of equipment
               containing PCBs.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 319/62                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                      12. 12. 88
                                                            ANNEX    4
              LABELLING OF EQUIPMENT IN WHICH PCBs HAVE BEEN REPLACED BY OTHER FLUIDS
          Each item of equipment shall be clearly marked with an indelible and embossed or engraved sign on at least two
          sides once the new fluid is shown not to contain more than 500 ppm of PCBs in accordance with the provisions
          of Annex 3. This label must include the following symbol and be worded in the language of the country in which
          the equipment is used and in English:
          This equipment was originally filled with a fluid containing PCBs. It was refilled with            (substitute)
                        on          (date)
          There may still be some residual PCBs in the fluid and the equipment.
          Before treating or disposing of the equipment check (compare) the level of PCBs and the relevant Community
          rules.
          Date(s) of sampling                                                                            Residual PCBs
 ---pagebreak--- 12. 12. 88                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                      No C 319/63
                                                             ANNEX   5
                                      LABELLING OF EQUIPMENT CONTAINING PCBs
           Such equipment shall be clearly and individually marked with an indelible sign in accordance with Directive 79/
           831/EEC and worded in the language of the country in which it is used and in English.
                                                                Xn
                                                             ANNEX    6
                                INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO COMPILE AN INVENTORY
           1. To enable identification of equipment containing PCBs and to facilitate the decoding of the coded
              information on rating plates (name plates), Member States shall obtain all relevant information from
              manufacturers and distributors of such equipment, in particular of capacitors containing PCBs.
           2. The inventory shall be kept up to date by means of the attached form. If equipment is emptied or
              decontaminated before recycling or destruction, this must be notified and recorded. Every user of equipment
              containing PCBs is required to keep a logbook in which all changes to the equipment shall be recorded.
           3. Copies of the forms must be sent by holders to the competent authorities and the fire and police services.
           4- Member States shall publish this information in the industrial press (electrical, maintenance, plant
              management, etc) and send such information to the fire service, waste disposal companies, local authorities,
              etc.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 319/64                              Official Journal of the European Communities                       12. 12. 88
                                                       ANNEX   6 (continued)
                             DECLARATION FORM TO BE COMPLETED BY HOLDER OF PCBs
          Date of declaration         /     /19                     Holder (name of individual or company):
          Holder's address
                                                                    Telephone No
           1.  LOCAL AUTHORITY UNDER WHOSE JURISDICTION THE OBJECT FALLS
          2.   LOCATION OF PCBs
               (give sufficient details)
          3.   PURPOSE FOR WHICH OBJECT USED
               (unit containing it)
          4.   DESCRIPTION OF THE EQUIPMENT CONTAINING THE PCB
               (overall dimensions and volume)
          5.   SERIAL NUMBER/TYPE
          6.   MANUFACTURER
          7.   DATE OF MANUFACTURE
           8.  NAME AND/OR TYPE OF PCBs CONTAINED
          9.   QUANTITY OF PCBs CONTAINED
           10. DATE OF REPLACEMENT
               (if carried out)
           11. PRESENT OWNER OF OBJECT
           12. LEGAL ADDRESS OF OWNER
           13. TELEPHONE NUMBER WHERE OWNER CAN BE CONTACTED
           14. OTHER COMMENTS
           15. IF YOU CANNOT COMPLETE THIS FORM, COPY THE NAME PLATE.
           Signature of respondent
 ---pagebreak--- 12. 12. 88                            Official Journal of the European Communities No C 319/65
                      ANNEX 7
        Directive              Proposed Directive
      76/403/EEC
Article 1 (a)     Article 2 (a)
Article 1 (b)     Article 1 (b) and (c) of amended Directive
                  75/442/EEC
Article 2         Article 3
Article 3         Article 4
Article 4         Article 4 of Directive 75/442/EEC
Article 5         Article 4
Article 6         Article 6
Article 7         Article 8 of Directive 75/442/EEC
Article 8         Article 12
Article 9
Article  10       Article 12 of Directive 75/442/EEC
Article  11       Article 14 (1)
Article  12       Article 14 (2)
Article  13       Article 15