CELEX: 51984PC0757
Language: en
Date: 1985-01-24
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE AMENDING DIRECTIVE 75/439/EEC ON THE DISPOSAL OF WASTE OILS

6.3.85                               Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 58/3
                                                            II
                                                    (Preparatory Acts)
                                               COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 75/439/EEC on the disposal of
                                                        waste oils
                                                   COM(84)      757final
                           (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 24 January 1985)
                                                      (85/C 58/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                      Whereas large quantities of waste oils are at present
COMMUNITIES,                                                     disposed of in an uncontrolled fashion and it is
                                                                 therefore necessary to improve the efficiency of waste
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                     oil collection and to tighten up monitoring in this
European Economic Community, and in particular                   area;
Articles 100 and 235 thereof,
                                                                 Whereas it is appropriate to prohibit the burning of
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,               waste oils in plants with a thermal output of less than
                                                                 1 MW which do not lend themselves, for technical
Having regard to the opinion of the European                     and economic reasons, to the use of the most efficient
Parliament,                                                      means of treating gaseous emissions, which are
                                                                 operated by unqualified personnel and where the
                                                                 controls would involve a technical and administrative
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                 burden disproportionate to the benefits gained by the
Social Committee,
                                                                 use of this type of fuel;
Whereas Council Directive 75/439/EEC (') provides                Whereas, in view of the special problems arising in
that Member States shall take the necessary measures             connection with synthetic waste oils, particularly
to ensure the safe collection and disposal of waste oils         where regeneration and combustion are concerned,
and to ensure that, as far as possible, the disposal of          this category of oils should be excluded from the
waste oils is carried out by recycling (regeneration             scope of Directive 75/439/EEC, and should therefore
and/or combustion other than for destruction);                   be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of
                                                                 Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on
Whereas regeneration is the most rational way of re-             waste (2) or Council Directive 76/403/EEC of 6 April
using waste oils in view of the energy savings which              1976 on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and
can be achieved;                                                 polychlorinated terphenyls (3), as appropriate,
Whereas, as a result of the increase in the prices of            HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
petroleum products, there has been a growing
tendency to burn waste oils for heating purposes,
particularly in small plants;                                                              Article 1
                                                                 Directive 75/439/EEC is hereby amended as follows:
Whereas the burning of waste oils generates waste
gases containing harmful substances in both gaseous
                                                                    1. Article 1 is replaced by the following:
and dust form which in some cases are highly toxic
and are capable of causing consideral environmental                    'Article 1
pollution; whereas it is therefore necessary to limit
the risks of environmental pollution caused by the                     For the purposes of this Directive:
burning of waste oils in the Community by means of
comprehensive, uniform arrangements for such                           1. waste oil means any semi-liquid or liquid used
combustion;                                                            product consisting totally or partially of mineral
                                                                  (J) OJ No L 194, 25. 7. 1975, p. 47.
(') OJ No L 194, 25. 7. 1975, p. 31.                              (5) OJ No L 108, 26. 4. 1976, p. 41.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 58/4                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                 6. 3. 85
    oil, including used motor vehicle lubricants                    (a) combustion of waste oils is not incompatible
    consisting of mixtures of mineral and synthetic                      with the objective defined in Article 3;
    oils, oily residues from tanks, oil-water mixtures              (b) combustion of waste oils in the plant does not
    and emulsions;                                                       entail any danger to public health or any
                                                                         significant harm to human beings or the
    2. regeneration means any process whereby base                       environment as a result of pollution;
    oils can be produced by refining waste oils, in
    particular by removing the contaminants,                        (c) all appropriate preventive measures in
    oxidations products and additives contained in                       accordance with the state of technical
    such oils.'                                                          development have been taken in order to
                                                                         prevent dangerous or harmful effects to
                                                                         human beings or the environment, as referred
 2. Article 3 is replaced by the following:
                                                                         to in point (b), as a result of pollution,
                                                                         especially in order to reduce emissions of the
     'Article 3
                                                                         substances referred to in the Annex. These
    Member States shall take the necessary measures                      measures may concern both the monitoring
    to ensure that, as far as possible, the disposal of                  of emissions and fuel monitoring;
    waste oils is carried out by means of                           (d) combustion residues arising from such plants
    regeneration.'                                                       shall be disposed of without harming the
                                                                         environment,     in accordance with           the
 3. The following point 4 is added to Article 4:                         provisions of Council Directive 78/319/EEC
                                                                         of 20 March 1978 on toxic and dangerous
    '4.     the combustion of waste oils in plants with                  waste (*);
    a thermal output of less than 1 MW.'                            (e) examination of the procedures concerning the
                                                                         use of waste oils, in particular as regards
 4. Article 5 is replaced by the following:                              monitoring the concentration of pollutants in
                                                                         such oils and in mixtures of oils and liquid
     'Article 5                                                          fuels which are burned, and of the technical
                                                                         characteristics of the plant, indicates that the
    1.     Member States shall carry out advertising                     emission limit values set out n the Annex have
    campaigns and provide incentives to ensure that                      not been exceeded;
    waste oils are collected as far as possible.
                                                                    (f) emissions from plants in which waste oils are
    2.     Where the aims defined in Articles 2, 3 and                   burned and/or the composition of such oils
    4 cannot otherwise be achieved, Member States                        are determined in accordance with pro-
    shall take the necessary measures to ensure that                     cedures and using measuring methods and
    one or more undertakings carry out the collection                    equipment approved by the competent auth-
    and/or disposal of the products offered to them                      orities in order in particular to monitor
    by holders, where appropriate in the area                            compliance with the obligations referred in
    assigned to them by the competent authorities.'                      point (e);
                                                                    (g) the plants in which waste oils are burned are
 5. Article 6 is replaced by the following:                              fitted with heat recovery equipment.
     'Article 6                                                     (l) OJ No L 84, 31. 3. 1978, p. 43'.
    1.     In order to comply with the measures taken            6. Article 7 is replaced by the following:
    pursuant to Article 4, any undertaking which
    collects and/or disposes of waste oils must obtain              'Article 7
    a permit. This permit shall be granted by the                   1.     A person holding waste oils must, if he is
    competent authorities, after examination of the                 unable to comply with the measures taken
    installations if necessary. These authorities shall             pursuant to Article 4, place them at the disposal
    impose the conditions required by the state of                  of the undertaking or undertakings referred to in
    technical development.                                          Article 5.
    2.     Without prejudice to the requirements laid               2.     Exceptions to the prohibition provided for
    down by national and Community provisions                       in Article 4 (4) may be authorized by the compe-
    with a purpose other than that of this Directive, a             tent authorities of the Member States provided
    permit as referred to in paragraph 1 may be                     that:
    granted to undertakings which burn waste oils,                  — the waste oils are burned in special
    whether alone or together with other fuels, only                    combustion equipment the technical charac-
    where the competent authority has satisfied itself                  teristics of which have been approved by the
    that:                                                               responsible authorities;
 ---pagebreak--- 6.3.85                                Official Journal of the European Communities                             N o C 58/5
    — only homogeneous waste engine oils are used;                 8. Article 11 is replaced by the following:
    — combustion is carried out in the commercial                      Article 11
         or industrial establishment in which the waste               The undertakings referred to in Article 9 must
         oils were changed and stored;                                convey to the competent authorities, at their
    — all the conditions laid down in Article 6 (2)                   request,     any information      concerning     the
         are satisfied.                                               collection and/or disposal or deposit of waste oils
                                                                      or their residues.'
    The criteria used in relation to such authori-                 9. Article 12 is replaced by the following:
    zations     shall   be     communicated       to    the            Article 12
    Commission.'
                                                                      1.     The undertakings referred to in Article 6
                                                                      shall be inspected periodically by the competent
 7. Article 8 is replaced by the following:                           authorities,    particularly   as   regards    their
                                                                      compliance with the conditions of their permits.
     'Article 8
                                                                      2.     The competent authorities -shall examine
    1.     Holders of certain quantities of waste oils                trends in the state of technical development
    containing impurities in excess of certain per-                   and/or of the environment with a view to revising
    centages must handle and store them separately.                   where necessary, a permit granted to an under-
                                                                      taking in accordance with this Directive.'
    2.     The provisions of Directive 78/319/EEC                10. The following paragraph is added to Article 17:
    and Council Directive 76/403/EEC of 6 April                       'Such measures shall include penalties, particu-
    1976 on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls                 larly for those responsible for the deliberate
    and polychlorinated terphenyls (*) shall apply to
                                                                      discharge of waste oils into the environment or
    waste oils containing toxic and dangerous sub-
                                                                      unauthorized combustion of such oils.'
    stances within the meaning of Directive
    78/319/EEC and polychlorinated biphenyls                     11. The Annex to this Directive is added.
    and/or polychlorinated terphenyls in excess of
    certain concentrations.                                                                Article 2
                                                                 1.     Member States shall bring into force the laws,
    3.     Having consulted the Committee for Adap-
                                                                 regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
    tation to Technical Progress established by
                                                                 comply with this Directive by 1 January 1986 and
    Article 18 of Directive 78/319/EEC, and in
                                                                 shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
    accordance with the procedure set out in Article
    19 of that Directive, the Commission shall adopt             2.     Member States shall communicate to the
    measures aimed at defining the quantities, per-              Commission the texts of the provisions of national
    centages and concentrations referred to in                   law which they adopt in the field governed by this
    paragraphs 1 and 2.                                          Directive.
                                                                                           Article 3
    (') OJ No L 108, 26. 4. 1976, p. 41.'                        This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 58/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                          6. 3. 85
                                                               ANNEX
                                                EMISSION LIMIT VALUES (*)
                            for certain substances emitted as a result of the combustion waste oils
                                (based on a 3 % oxygen content by volume in the waste gases)
                                   Pollutant                                              Limit value
          Dust (total)                                                                   50 mg/NmJ
          Gd                                                                            0,2 mg/Nm3
          Ni                                                                              1 mg/Nm3
          Pb + Cr + Cu + V                                                                5 mg/Nm5
          so2                                                                          500 mg/Nm5
          ci - (!)                                                                      100 mg/Nm3
          F-C)                                                                            5 mg/Nm3
          (') The limit values refer to the concentration, in the combustion gas from a plant in which waste oils (alone or
              mixed with other fuels) are burned, of various substances, in terms of mg/m 5 of waste gases at standard
              temperature and pressure (273 K, 1 013 bar) after deduction of the water vapour content.
          (2) Inorganic gaseous compounds of chlorine treated as hydrochloric acid.
          (3) Inorganic gaseous compounds of fluorine treated as hydrofluoric acid.