Government consults on implementation of new European industrial emissions rules

The new rules, outlined in a consultation document (47-page / 291KB PDF), implement the new Industrial Emissions Directive (IED). This tightens minimum emission limits in certain industrial sectors across the EU, particularly in relation to large combustion plants. It also introduces minimum standards for environmental inspections at industrial installations and allows for more effective permit reviews. The IED must be transposed into UK law by 6 January 2013 and will apply to all new installations built after that date.

The IED, which was ratified in 2010, combines the current integrated pollution prevention and control (IPCC) Directive with six Directives which deal with emissions from specific sectors such as large combustion plants and waste incineration. As well as seeking to alleviate administrative burdens through a single legislative framework, the IED also clarifies definitions to ensure the rules are applied consistently across the EU. It also sets rules designed to prevent or reduce emissions into air, water and land and to prevent the generation of waste.

The EPRs currently implement all seven Directives which have been combined in the new Directive. In a letter to stakeholders (3-page / 39KB PDF), the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that it was planning to amend the existing EPR rather than create new regulations as "much of the material in the new Directive remains substantially unchanged" from the current regime. Moreover, the EPRs are set up to allow the adding of new Directives to their scope without substantial amendment.

The Government is also asking whether the EPR should continue to apply the requirements of the IED to "some activities which are not specified" as part of the new regime.

The EPR will be applied across the energy industry, the production and processing of metals, the mineral industry including the production of cement, the chemical industry - including the industrial scale production of specific substances listed in the IED – certain agricultural processes and waste management.

The requirement for IPPC activities at a permitted installation to operate using 'Best Available Techniques' (BAT), or the most cost-effective techniques available to achieve a high level of environmental protection, continues. However BAT Conclusions, which will be determined at European level to ensure consistent standards across the EU, will now be used as a central EU reference point for granting permits to industrial facilities. This is designed to ensure more consistent interpretation of BAT across the EU. 

The IED also tightens the minimum emissions limits that apply to large combustion plants, which burn fossil fuels to generate electricity, with a total thermal input of at least 50MW. These limits are also based on BAT, without prescribing the use of any technique or specific technology.  It also extends the scope of the legislation to cover other polluting activities, such as those of medium-sized combustion plants with a total thermal input of between 20 and 50MW.

Currently all combustion plants built after 1987 must comply with the emission limits in the Large Combustion Plant Directive - one of the seven recast in the IED – in relation to sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides and dust. Emissions limits vary according to the age and the capacity of the plant, with the practical effect of limiting the length of time that permitted plants can continue to operate. The IED sets out the minimum emissions limit values (ELV) which plants must comply with in an annex, and sets a limit on carbon dioxide emissions for the first time. New combustion plants will become subject to the rules from 7 January 2013 but, as a general rule, existing installations will have until 2016 to comply with the stricter limits, The IED also includes an option which will allow installations facing closure in 2016 to continue generating until 31 December 2023 where operational restrictions are complied with.

The new rules for existing IPPC activities will apply to activities which require a permit under the current rules from 6 January 2014 and to activities which were previously exempt from the regime from 6 January 2015. The Government will now be able to provide one permit to cover two or more installations or parts of installations operated by the same operator on the same site, or to provide a permit that covers several parts of an installation operated by different operators.

Environmental law expert Gordon McCreath at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the consultation was the "first stage in a long route" to full implementation of the IED.

"BAT conclusions will take a long time to work their way through the EU system, but the new ‘bottom up’ procedure gives industry improved opportunity to influence their content. Many UK operators will feel that consistency across the EU on BAT will bring their competitors on to a level playing field with them, although the procedure for derogations from BAT may also present some wriggle room for member states. At the same time derogations may also present an opportunity for a more common sense approach to some operations. New site closure clean-up requirements have the potential to go further than current rules and will need close inspection when produced, and new monitoring requirements – such as continuous monitoring for dioxins - will give some operators some significant pause for thought," he said.

"What is clear at this stage are the new tighter requirements on combustion installations and the relatively short timetable for compliance: affected industries are and should be forming their strategy for compliance now," he added.