BUSINESSEUROPE raises concerns about BAT conclusions

Based on the note sent by the European Commission to the Member States, CEMBUREAU has concluded that Emission Limit Values (ELVs) and derogations will not be derived from Best Available Technique (BATⁱ) conclusions from the Cement BAT Reference Document (BREFⁱ) until it has been revised under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) (see Eurobrief October 2011). However, other sectors whose BREFs were also adopted under the former Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPCⁱ) regime still fear the Commission’s intent to repeat the controversial process recently exercised for the Iron & Steel and Glass BREFs which were developed under the IPPC and adopted under the IED. This process revealed a number of weaknesses.

As a result of this uncertainty, BUSINESSEUROPE has drawn the attention of the IED Article 75 Committee (comitology) to this issue. On 21 November 2011, the IED Article 75 Committee was asked to formulate its opinion on a set of important documents following the adoption of the IED, including the guidance that establishes a procedure for the drawing up and reviewing of a BREF as well as the associated workflow. It is clear from this guidance that the chapter “BAT conclusions” can only be arrived at through an inclusive review process, with the Technical Working Groups playing a key role in deriving “BAT conclusions” at each step of this procedure on the basis of, among others, the data collection phase.

BUSINESSEUROPE emphasised that none of the BREFs adopted prior to the entry into force of the IED can be considered as the result of one of the Guidance workflow steps. An in-depth examination of these BREFs, following the process described in the Guidance, will be indispensable to ensure that appropriate and sufficient information is included in “BAT conclusions”.

CEMBUREAU fully supports the BUSINESSEUROPE position.

More information: BUSINESSEUROPE letter