Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the reviews undertaken under Article 30(9) and Article 73 of Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions addressing emissions from intensive livestock rearing and combustion plants

Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on industrial emissions (commonly referred to as the 'IED') was adopted on 24 November 2010 following three years of inter-institutional negotiations on the Commission's original proposal. The IED recasts seven Directives related to industrial emissions into a single comprehensive Directive. The IED entered into force on 6 January 2011, requiring Member States to transpose it within two years. It will come fully into effect in the coming years as the existing legislation is phased out and replaced by the new provisions.

The IED covers approximately 50,000 industrial installations across the EU including energy industries, the production and processing of metals, the mineral industry, the chemical industry, waste management and certain other activities such as the intensive rearing of pigs and poultry. Installations covered by the IED must be operated in accordance with permits which include conditions based on the best available techniques (BAT) designed to prevent and, where that is not practicable, generally to reduce emissions to air, water and soil and the impact to the environment as a whole. In addition, it incorporates strengthened sectoral EU-wide minimum requirements for a number of key polluting activities.

During the legislative process a significant amount of time was dedicated to consideration of the scope of the Directive, but in comparison to the Directive concerning integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) the scope of the IED finally remained relatively unchanged. However, it was concluded that a number of activities warranted further scrutiny with regard to their potential to cause pollution and the possible courses of action to address such pollution. This resulted in review clauses being included, in particular in Article 30(9) and Article 73. This Report addresses those reviews:

(i) Intensive livestock rearing – Agricultural activity in the EU impacts on the environment with regard to emissions to land, water and air. In particular, agriculture accounts for over 90% of total EU ammonia emissions, with a large proportion of such emissions arising as a result of the breeding and rearing of livestock.

(ii) Combustion activities – Combustion of fuels in stationary installations contributes significantly to emissions of a range of pollutants including sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter. Whilst IED covers a number of larger combustion plants, gaps remain in the coverage and, furthermore, combustion of fuel in installations with a rated thermal input less than 50MW is not covered by existing EU legislation.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)286: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:286:FIN

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