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Industrial pollution: Council-EP agreement confirmed

COREPER confirmed the agreement on prevention and control of industrial pollution

The member states’ permanent representatives (Coreper) confirmed, on 18 June, the agreement reached two days earlier in interinstitutional dialogue on the draft directive on prevention and control of industrial pollution (ex-IPPC Directive). On the whole, the agreement strengthens environmental protection provisions, gives member states a degree of flexibility and sets up the framework applicable to large combustion plants. The directive still has to be formally adopted by the Council and the European Parliament.

The final obstacles concerned greater possibilities not to abide by the emissions values set under best available techniques (BAT) through derogations granted by member states (which they see as a necessary form of flexibility), application deadlines for large combustion plants (LCPs) and procedural rules for definition and adoption of BAT.

On the possibility of departing from limit values and derogations allowing member states to define more lenient emissions standards (Article 15.4), the final compromise stipulates: the member states will have to prove that the ‘costs’ of implementing the limit values associated with BAT are disproportionate.

For implementation of the directive by large combustion plants, the Council and EP agreed on the following provisions and timetable:

- transitional national plans will be limited to 30 June 2020

- fixed-term derogations will apply from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2023 for a maximum of 17,500 hours of activity

- derogations for district heating installations will apply to 31 December 2022.

On procedures,the Commission’s failed to convince the EP to allow it to act through a delegation of powers (‘delegated acts’) for the definition and adoption of BAT. The compromise confirms that the traditional comitology procedure (Regulatory Committee) will apply. That procedure requires the Council to act by qualified majority (for or against) a proposal from the Commission. In the absence of a qualified majority, the proposal is sent back to the Commission for a final decision.

(Source: Europolitics)