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The most critical point is the categories of industrial activities included in annex 1 of the Act

The chemical companies ask for improve the IPPC regulations

María Escribano01/08/2005

Because of the obligations before the law for the prevention and integrated Control of pollution, known by all as IPPC law, all affected by the same existing facilities must request such authorization by January 1, 2007 to operatethe Government is drafting a regulation allowing adequate implementation and development. A new draft of the Royal Decree by which will be adopted that regulation just know.

With the adoption in 2002 of the law on prevention and integrated pollution Control (IPPC), was created the figure of the integrated environmental authorization as a mechanism of control over the activities of the industries, in which are going to establish, among other aspects, emission limit values of pollutants in relation to best available techniques and the needs of each environment.

Taking into account the important obligations that presents this law, that all affected by the same existing facilities must request such authorization by January 1, 2007 to operate, the Government prepares currently a regulation allowing adequate implementation and development.

Thus, last February began to circulate a new draft Royal Decree by which will be adopted that regulation, which aims to establish a series of measures, mainly of procedure, to facilitate the processing of the administrative files of authorization from installations. However, the presented draft are detected various shortcomings which, in the view of Feique, must be correct.

Identified gaps

One of the first aspects that need clarification is related to the Spanish registration of the EPER, which provides public information on the emissions of installations exceeding certain threshold. However, and taking into account that the IPPC law requires companies to report to the administration of its volume of emissions regardless of which exceed these thresholds, the rules of procedure should ensure that this information is not included in the EPER register of public accessto avoid the misinterpretation of the data.

With regard to the scope of the authorisation, the draft raised that "once issued integrated environmental authorization, not may start unless the competent authority has checked the adequacy of the installation to the provisions of the above-mentioned authorization environmental conditional"which is - in the opinion of the management of the sector - surprising because it is impossible that the Administration verify compliance with the limits of emissions or discharges into a facility that cannot be launched. "It is a section that should be deleted, because not even subjected to the Administration for a period of time to exercise such verification, which could cause that a facility was unlimited paralysed despite having proper authority".

And whether this paragraph should be deleted it is essential to include one in which to develop the figure of the simplified procedure, proposes Feique. "This figure, that the law required to develop regulations, appears in the Royal Decree, but only to indicate that the simplified procedure, de facto, is exactly equal to the ordinary procedure."

One aspect which is also improved for the chemical sector is the recognition for those companies to implement environmental management systems

Another important issue are the criteria for determining the modification of an installation as a "substantial", since there are many cases in which an installation can generate on time an extraordinary amount of waste, as for example when you have to clean up a raft of its sewage treatment plant of water or has removed a part of your installation, etc. "For these cases, should be a figure of specific or discontinuous change, unless this is reason for the complete revision of its integrated environmental authorization".

Another aspect that should clarify the future regulation, Feique believes, is the the urban report which is required for authorization, since there may be existing facilities which obtained its licence of activity with a particular urbanistic plan, and subsequent plans have changed their rating. In this case the legal licence obtained in its day should be replacement of the urban report at the time of the authorization. "In other words, if I live in a house built in an area as residential land, although my City Council recalifique the soil such as industrial, I it cannot force to leave".

One aspect which is also improved for the chemical sector is the recognition for those companies to implement systems of environmental management (EMS), already that if well indicated that a certification of such expedited mechanisms for verification of the fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the authorization, do not identify expressly the EMS will give right to do so, which could lead to an autonomous community exclusively recognized ISO 14001 and in another the EMAS, as it is usual for companies to have centres in different communities with the same certification. "It would therefore be desirable to appoint explicitly in the regulation the EMS will give right to the application of this criterion, which would also generate a higher volume of certificates between companies," claim.

The submitted draft are detected various shortcomings which, in the view of Feique, must be correct

The most critical point for Feique is probably that the categories of industrial activities in annex 1 of the Act, even though the rules should serve to clarify any doubts about what facilities they are affected by the samein the case of the chemical industry the wording proposed in the draft has removed the necessary clarification that only include the installations that have "chemical transformation", and exclude those which only blend or formulate substances (physical transformation).

This would determine which contrary to the provisions of the legislation in Europe, in Spain would be affected subsectors expressly excluded such as the manufacture of detergents, creating an unacceptable discrimination compared to the rest of the EU Member States.

"In short, and so serve as drafts,-concludes Feique in its communiqué-must be carried out several improvements in the proposal, especially so that the regulation allows its perfect development and not settle contradictions with the law itself which serves".