Considerations on COM(2022)156 - Amendment of Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) and Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2022)156 - Amendment of Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) and Council ... |
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| document | COM(2022)156  |
| date | April 24, 2024 |
(2) The European Green Deal announced a revision of Union measures to address pollution from large industrial installations, including reviewing the sectoral scope of the legislation and how to make it fully consistent with climate, energy and circular economy policies. In addition, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the Circular Economy Action Plan and the Farm to Fork Strategy also call for reducing pollutant emissions at source, including sources not currently within the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 69 . Addressing pollution from certain agro-industrial activities thus requires their inclusion within the scope of that Directive.
(3) The Union’s extractive industry is key to achieving the aims of the European Green Deal and the EU industrial strategy, including its update. Raw materials are of strategic importance for the digital and green transition, the energy, materials and circular economy transformation and to strengthen EU economic resilience. In order to achieve these objectives, sustainable domestic capacities need to be further developed. This requires effective, tailored and harmonised measures to ensure that the best available techniques are established and employed, thus applying processes that are both the most efficient and have the lowest possible impacts on the environment and human health. The governance mechanisms of Directive 2010/75/EU that closely associate industry experts to the development of consensual and tailored environmental requirements will support the sustainable growth of those activities in the Union. The development and availability of commonly agreed standards will level the Union’s playing field while ensuring a high level of protection of human health and the environment. It is therefore appropriate to include those activities within the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU.
(4) Rearing of pigs, poultry and cattle cause significant pollutant emissions into the air and water. In order to reduce such pollutant emissions, including ammonia, methane, nitrates and greenhouse gas emissions and thereby improve air, water and soil quality, it is necessary to lower the threshold above which pigs and poultry installations are included within the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU and to include also cattle farming within that scope. Relevant BAT requirements take into consideration the nature, size, density and complexity of these installations, including the specificities of pasture based cattle rearing systems, where animals are only seasonally reared in indoor installations, and the range of environmental impacts they may have. The proportionality requirements in BATs aim to incentivise farmers to implement the necessary transition towards increasingly environmentally friendly agricultural practices.
(5) A significant increase in the number of large-scale installations for the production of batteries for electric vehicles will likely take place within the Union up to 2040, increasing the Union’s share of the global battery production. Whilst several of the activities of the batteries value chain are already regulated by Directive 2010/75/EU and batteries are regulated as products by Regulation (EU) .../... of the European Parliament and of the Council* +., it is still necessary to include in the scope of the Directive large installations manufacturing batteries, ensure that they are also covered by the requirements set out in Directive 2010/75/EU and therefore contribute to a more sustainable growth of batteries manufacturing. Including large installations manufacturing batteries in the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU will improve in a holistic way the sustainability of batteries and minimise their impact on the environment throughout their life cycle.
(6) With a view to further strengthening public access to environmental information, it is necessary to clarify that permits for installations granted pursuant to Directive 2010/75/EU are to be made available to the public on the Internet, free of charge and without restricting access to registered users. A uniform summary of permits should also be made available to the public under the same conditions.
(7) The impact of pollution, including when caused by incidents or accidents, may extend beyond the territory of a Member State. In such cases, without prejudice to Directive 2012/18/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 70 , limiting the consequences for human health and the environment of incidents or accidents and preventing further possible incidents or accidents requires prompt information and close coordination between the competent authorities of the Members States which are or may be affected by such events. Therefore, in the event of any incident or accident significantly affecting the environment or human health in another Member State, information and transboundary and multidisciplinary cooperation between the affected Member States should be fostered to limit the consequences for the environment and human health and to prevent further possible incidents or accidents.
(8) Member States should also adopt compliance assurance measures to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with obligations placed on natural or legal persons under Directive 2020/75/EU. As part of compliance assurance measures, competent authorities should be able to suspend the operation of an installation where a continued breach of the permit conditions and the non-implementation of the findings of the inspection report pose or risk causing a danger to human health or a significant adverse effect upon the environment, in order to stop that danger.
(9) In order to foster energy efficiency of installations within the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU which are carrying out activities listed in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC, it is appropriate to submit those installations to energy efficiency requirements in respect of combustion units or other units emitting carbon dioxide on the site.
(10) The evaluation of Directive 2010/75/EU concluded that there is a need to strengthen the links between that Directive and Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 71 , to better address the risks of the use of chemicals in installations whithin the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU. In order to develop synergies between the work carried out by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) on chemicals and the preparation of BAT reference documents under Directive 2010/75/EU, ECHA should be given a formal role in such preparation of BAT reference documents.
(11) In order to facilitate the exchange of information supporting the determination of emission levels and environmental performance levels associated with best available techniques (BAT), while maintaining the integrity of confidential business information, the procedures for the handling of information qualifying as confidential business information or sensitive commercial information, and as collected from the industry in the context of the exchange of information organised by the Commission for the purpose of drafting, reviewing or updating BAT reference documents should be specified. It should be ensured that individuals participating in the exchange of information do not share information qualifying as confidential business information or sensitive commercial information with any representative of undertakings or trade associations having an economic interest in the concerned industrial activities and related markets. Such exchange of information is without prejudice to Union competition law, in particular Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
(12) To ensure the protection of human health and the environment as a whole, synergies and coordination with other relevant Union environmental legislation are necessary, at all stages of its implementation.Therefore, all relevant competent authorities that ensure compliance with relevant Union environmental legislation should be duly consulted before the granting of a permit under Directive 2010/75/EU.
(13) With a view to continuously improving the environmental performance and safety of the installation, including by preventing waste generation, optimising resource use and water reuse, and preventing or reducing risks associated with the use of hazardous substances, the operator should establish and implement an environmental management system (EMS) in accordance with relevant BAT conclusions, and should make it available to the public. The EMS should also cover the management of risks related to the use of the hazardous substances and an analysis of the possible substitution of hazardous substances by safer alternatives.
(14) It is necessary to specify further the conditions under which the competent authority, when setting emission limit values applicable to pollutant releases to water in a permit granted under Directive 2010/75/EU, may take account of the downstream treatment processes in a waste water treatment plant, in order to ensure that such releases do not lead to an increased load of pollutants in receiving waters when compared to a situation where the installation applies BAT and meets emission levels associated with the best available techniques for direct releases.
(15) Providing a high level of protection of human health and the environment as a whole requires inter alia the establishment in permits of emission limit values at a level that ensures compliance with the applicable emission levels associated with the best available techniques set out in the BAT conclusions. Emission levels associated with the best available techniques (BAT-AELs) are usually expressed as ranges, rather than as single values, to reflect the differences within a given type of installations that result in variations in the environmental performances achieved when applying BAT. For example, a given BAT will not deliver the same performance for different installations, some BATs may not be suitable for use in certain installations, or a combination of BATs may be more effective on some pollutants or environmental media than others. The achievement of a high level of protection of human health and the environment as a whole has been jeopardised by the practice of setting emission limit values at the laxest end of the range of emission levels associated with the best available techniques, without considering the potential of a given installation to achieve lower emission levels through the application of best available techniques. Such practice discourages frontrunners from implementing more effective techniques, and hinders the achievement of a level-playing field at a high level of protection of human health and the environment. Competent authorities should therefore be required to set in permits the lowest possible emission limit values which reflect the performance of BAT for the specific installations, taking into consideration the whole range of BAT-AELs and aiming at the best environmental performance possible for the installations; unless the operator demonstrates that applying best available techniques as described in the BAT conclusions only allows the concerned installation to meeting less strict emission limit values.
(16) The contribution of Directive 2010/75/EU to resource and energy efficiency and circular economy in the Union should be made more effective, taking into consideration the ‘Energy Efficiency First’ as a guiding principle of the Union energy policy. Therefore, the permits should establish, where possible, mandatory environmental performance limit values on consumption and resource efficiency levels, including on the use of water, energy and recycled materials, based on the environmental performance levels associated with the best available techniques (BAT AEPLs) set out in decisions on BAT conclusions.
(17) With a view to preventing or minimising the emission of pollutants by installations within the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU and to levelling the playing field across the Union, the conditions under which derogations from emissions limit values can be granted should be better framed through general principles, in order to ensure a more harmonized implementation of such derogations throughout the Union. Moreover, derogations from emissions limit values should not be granted where they may put at risk compliance with environmental quality standards.
(18) The evaluation of Directive 2010/75/EU concluded that there was some discrepancy in compliance assessment approaches for installations covered by Chapter II of that Directive. In order to achieve a high level of protection of the environment as a whole, ensure a consistent implementation of Union law and a level-playing field throughout the Union, while minimising the administrative burden on businesses and public authorities, the Commission should set common rules for assessing compliance with emission limit values and validation of measured levels for both air and water emissions based on best available techniques. Those compliance assessment rules should take precedent over the rules set out in Chapters III and IV on assessment of compliance with emission limit values contained in Annexes V and VI to Directive 2010/75/EU.
(19) Environmental quality standards refer to all the requirements set out in Union law, such as Union legislation on air and water; which must be fulfilled at a given time by a given environment or particular part thereof. Therefore it is appropriate to clarify that when granting a permit to an installation, competent authorities should not only set out conditions to ensure compliance of the installation’s operations with the use of the best available techniques conclusions, but should also, where appropriate with a view to reducing the specific contribution of the installation to the pollution occurring in the relevant area, include specific additional conditions in the permit stricter than those set in relevant BAT conclusions, so as to ensure the installation’s compliance with environmental quality standards. Such conditions may consist in setting stricter emission limit values or limiting the operation or capacity of the installation.
(20) Permit conditions should be regularly reviewed and, where necessary, updated by the competent authority to ensure compliance with relevant legislation. Such review or update should also take place where it is necessary for the installation to comply with an environmental quality standard, including in the case of a new or revised environmental quality standard or where the status of the receiving environment requires a revision of the permit in order to achieve compliance with plans and programmes set under Union legislation, such as the river basin management plans under Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 72 .
(21) Parties to the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, at their seventh Meeting session, endorsed the Convention’s Compliance Committee’s findings in case ACCC/C/2014/121, according to which, by putting in place a legal framework that does not envisage any possibility for public participation in relation to reconsiderations and updates under Article 21 (3), (4) and (5)(b) and (c) of Directive 2010/75/EU, the European Union fails to comply with article 6 (10) of the Convention. These findings have been endorsed by the Union and its Member States, and with a view to reaching full compliance with the Aarhus Convention, it is necessary to specify that the public concerned should be given early and effective opportunities to participate in the granting or updating of permit conditions set by the competent authority also when permits conditions are reconsidered following the publication of decisions on BAT conclusions relating to the main activity fo the installation; when developments in the best available techniques allow for the significant reduction of emissions; when the operational safety requires other techniques to be used; and where it is necessary to comply with a new or revised environmental quality standard.
(22) As clarified by the case-law of the Court of Justice 73 , Member States may not restrict legal standing to challenge a decision of a public authority to those members of the public concerned who participated in the preceding administrative procedure to adopt that decision. As also clarified by the case-law of the Court of Justice 74 , effective access to justice in environmental matters and effective remedies requires inter alia that members of the public concerned should have the right to ask the court or ancompetent independent and impartial body to order interim measures to prevent a given instance of pollution, including, where necessary, through the temporary suspension of the disputed permit. Therefore, it should be specified that legal standing should not be made conditional on the role that the concerned member of the public played during a participatory phase of the decision-making procedures under this Directive. In addition, any review procedure should be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive, and provide for adequate and effective redress mechanisms, including injunctive relief as appropriate.
(23) Transboundary cooperation should take place prior to the granting of permits where more than one Member State may be affected by the operation of an installation, and should include prior information and consultation of the public concerned and competent authorities in the other Member States which may be affected.
(24) The evaluation of Directive 2010/75/EU found that, even if it should foster the transformation of European industry, it is not dynamic enough and does not sufficiently support the deployment of innovative processes and technologies. It is therefore appropriate to facilitate the testing and deployment of emerging techniques with improved environmental performance, to facilitate cooperation with researchers and industries in publicly funded research projects subject to the conditions foreseen in the relevant European and national funding instruments, as well as to set up a dedicated centre to support innovation by collecting and analysing information on innovative techniques, including emerging techniques, relevant to activities within the scope of that Directive and to characterise their level of development from research to deployment (technology readiness level or ‘TRL’) and their environmental performance. This will also inform the exchange of information on drawing up, reviewing and updating BAT reference documents. Innovative techniques to be collected and analysed by the centre should be at least at the level of technology demonstrated in relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies) or system prototype demonstration in operation environment (TRL 6-7).
(25) Achieving Union objectives regarding a clean, circular and climate neutral economy by 2050 calls for a deep transformation of the Union economy. Consistently with the 8th Environmental Action Programme, operators of installations covered by Directive 2010/75/EU should therefore be required to include transformation plans in their environmental management systems. Such transformation plans will also complement the Corporate Sustainability Reporting requirements under Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 75 by providing a means for concrete implementation of these requirements at installation level. The first priority is the transformation of energy-intensive activities listed in Annex I. Therefore, the operators of energy-intensive installations should produce transformation plans by 30 June 2030. Operators of installations carrying out other activities listed in Annex I should be required to produce transformation plans as part of the permit reconsideration and update following the publication of decisions on BAT conclusions published after 1 January 2030. Whilst the transformation plans should remain indicative documents prepared under the responsibility of the operators, the audit organisation contracted by the operators as part of their environmental management systems should check that they contain the minimum information to be set by the European Commission in an implementing act, and the operators should make the transformation plans public.
(26) Further clarity is needed regarding the criteria to assess whether the cleaned gases or liquids resulting from the gasification and pyrolysis of waste are sufficiently purified to such an extent that they are no longer waste prior to their incineration.
(27) In light of the high number of rearing installations that should be included within the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU, and the relative simplicity of the processes and emissions patterns of such installations, it is appropriate to set out specific administrative procedures for issuing permits and for the operation of the relevant activities which are adapted to the sector, without prejudice to requirements related to public information and participation, montoring and compliance.
(28) Innovative techniques coming on the market are expected to increasingly reduce both emissions of pollutants and of greenhouse gases from installations within the scope of both Directive 2010/75/EU and Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 76 . Whilst this will allow for the building of further synergies between those Directives, it may affect their operation, including on the carbon market. Directive 2003/87/EC contains in this regard a provision to review the effectiveness of synergies with Directive 2010/75/EU, and calling for environmental and climate relevant permits to be coordinated to ensure efficient and speedier execution of measures needed to comply with Union climate and energy objectives. In order to take into account the dynamics of innovation in this regard and the review referred to in Article 8 of Directive 2003/87/EC, the Commisison should submit a report reviewing the implementation of Directive 2010/75/EU to the European Parliament and to the Council by 2028 and every 5 years thereafter.
(29) In order to ensure that Directive 2010/75/EU continues meeting its objectives to prevent or reduce emissions of pollutants and achieve a high level of protection of human health and the environment, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to supplement that Directive in order to establish operating rules containing requirements for activities relating to rearing of poultry, pigs and cattle, and to amend Annexes I and Ia to that Directive by adding an agro-industrial activity to ensure that it meets its objectives to prevent or reduce pollutants emissions and achieve a high level of protection of human health and the environment. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016 77 . In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
(30) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of Directive 2010/75/EU, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission as regards the establishment of (i) the format to be used for the permit summary; (ii) a standardised methodology for assessing the disproportionality between the costs of implementation of the BAT conclusions and the potential environmental benefits, (iii) the measuring method for assessing compliance with emission limit values set out in the permit with regard to emissions to air and water, (iv) the detailed arrangements necessary for the establishment and functioning of the innovation centre for industrial transformation and emissions, and (v) the format to be used for transformation plans. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council 78 .
(31) In order to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of the obligations set out in Directive 2010/75/EU, it is necessary to specify the minimum content of effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties. Disparities in penalties regimes, the fact that imposed penalties are deemed in many cases too low to truly have a deterrent effect on illegal behaviours, and the lack of uniform implementation across Member States, undermine the level playing field on industrial emissions throughout the Union. Account should be taken of Directive 2008/99/EC on the protection of the environment through criminal law where a detected infringement under this Directive constitutes an offence within the scope Directive 2008/99/EC.
(32) Where damage to human health has occurred as a result of a violation of national measures adopted pursuant to Directive 2010/75/EU, Member States should ensure that the individuals affected are able to claim and obtain compensation for that damage from the relevant natural or legal persons and, where appropriate, from the relevant competent authorities responsible for the infringement. Such rules on compensation contribute to pursuing the objectives of preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment and protecting human health as laid down in Article 191 TFEU. They also underpin the right to life, integrity of the person and health care laid down in Article 2, 3 and 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the right to an effective remedy as laid down in Article 47 of the Charter. Moreover, Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council does not give private parties a right of compensation as a consequence of environmental damage or of an imminent threat of such damage.
(33) It is therefore appropriate for Directive 2010/75/EU to address the right for compensation for damages suffered by individuals. To ensure that individuals can defend their rights against damages to health caused by violations of Directive 2010/75/EU and thereby ensure a more efficient enforcement of that Directive, non-governmental organisations promoting the protection of human health or the environment, including those promoting the protection of consumers and meeting any requirements under national law, as members of the public concerned, should be empowered to engage in proceedings, as the Member States so determine, either on behalf or or in support of any victim, without prejudice to national rules of procedure concerning representation and defence before the courts. Member States usually enjoy procedural autonomy to ensure an effective remedy against violations of Union law, subject to the respect of the principles of equivalence and effectivity. However, experience shows that while there is overwhelming epidemiologic evidence on the negative health impacts of pollution on the population, in particular as regards air, it is difficult for the victims of violations of Directive 2010/75/EU under the procedural rules on the burden of proof generally applicable in the Member States to demonstrate a causality link between the suffered harm and the violation. As a result, in the majority of cases, victims of violations of Directive 2010/75/EU do not have an effective way to obtain compensation for the harm caused by such violations. To strengthen the rights of individuals to obtain compensation for violations of Directive 2010/75/EU and to contribute to a more efficient enforcement of its requirements throughout the Union, it is necessary to adapt the burden of proof applicable to such situations. Therefore, when an individual can provide sufficiently robust evidence to give rise to a presumption that the violation of Directive 2010/75/EU is at the origins of the damage caused to the health of an individual, or has significantly contributed to it, it should be for the defendant to rebut that presumption in order to escape his liability.
(34) The impact of Directive 2010/75/EU on the procedural autonomy of the Member States should be limited to what is necessary to ensure the objectives of protection of human health through a safe environment pursued by it and should not affect other national procedural rules establishing the right to seek compensation for violations of that Directive. Such national rules should however not hamper the effective functioning of the mechanism for seeking compensation required by Directive 2010/75/EU.
(35) The implementation of Directive 2010/75/EU has shown divergent applications across Member States concerning the coverage of installations for the manufacturing of ceramic products by firing, because the wording of the definition of this activity allowed Member States to decide whether to apply both or only one of the two criteria on production capacity and kiln capacity. With a view to ensuring a more consistent implementation of that Directive and securing a level-playing field throughout the Union, such installations should be included within the scope of that Directive whenever any one of those two criteria is met.
(36) When setting emission limit values for polluting substances, the competent authority should consider all substances, including substances of emerging concern, which may be emitted from the concerned installation and may have a significant impact on the environment or human health. In doing so, the hazard characteristics, quantity and nature of the substances emitted and their potential to pollute any environmental media should be considered. The BAT conclusions, where relevant, are the reference point for selecting the substances for which emission limit values are to be set, although the competent authority may decide to select additional substances. Currently, individual polluting substances are listed in a non-exhaustive way in Annex II to Directive 2010/75/EU; which is not compatible with the holistic approach of that Directive and does not reflect the need for competent authorities to take into account all relevant polluting substances, including those of emerging concern. The non-exhaustive list of polluting substances should therefore be deleted. Instead, reference should be made to the list of pollutants in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 79 .
(37) Although landfills are included within the scope of Directive 2010/75/EU, no BAT conclusions exist for landfills since that activity falls within the scope of Council Directive 1999/31/EC 80 and the requirements of the latter Directive are deemed to constitute BAT. Due to the technical developments and innovation that have taken place since the adoption of Directive 1999/31/EC, more effective techniques for protecting human health and the environment are now available. The adoption of BAT conclusions under Directive 2010/75/EU would allow addressing the key environmental issues related to the operation of waste landfills, including significant emissions of methane. Directive 1999/31/EC should therefore allow for the adoption of BAT conclusions on landfills under Directive 2010/75/EU.
(38) Directives 2010/75/EU and 1999/31/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.
(39) Since the objectives of this Directive, namely to ensure a high level of environmental protection and the improvement of environmental quality, cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States and can, therefore, by reason of the transboundary nature of pollution from industrial activities, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.
(40) In accordance with the principle of proportionality, it is necessary and appropriate for the achievement of the basic objective of ensuring a high level of environmental protection and the improvement of environmental quality to lay down rules on integrated prevention and control of pollution arising from industrial activities. This Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve the objectives pursued, in accordance with Article 5(4) of the Treaty on European Union.
(41) In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of 28 September 2011 of Member States and the Commission on explanatory documents 81 , Member States have undertaken to accompany, in justified cases, the notification of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the components of a directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments. With regard to this Directive, the legislator considers the transmission of such documents to be justified.