Industrial Emissions Directory (IED)

The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) (2010/75/EU) entered into force on 6 January 2011. EU Member States now have two years to implement the Directive in their national laws.

The IED replaces the former IPPC Directive, aiming to harmonize plant emissions to create a level playing field across Europe. Read the full text of the Directive (PDF document).

Under the IED the adaptation to specific local conditions is less flexible than in the past and will need thorough justification.  The new IED will also cover soil and groundwater quality with a view to safeguard these after plant operation finishes. Baseline reports will be required from plant operators, but guidance on how to prepare such reports still need to be developed by the Commission.

Under the IED BREF documents (BAT Reference Documents; BAT: best available techniques) are important elements to regulate and benchmark plant operations and related emissions.

The Commission decided in 2009 to start updating the chlor-alkali BREF that was published in 2001 (PDF document). A Euro Chlor task force was created to prepare the information needed and to support the industry delegates to the technical working group (TWG) established by the Commission to revise the document.

All chlor-alkali plants were asked to complete a large questionnaire to provide information requested by the BREF writer and the task force prepared many specific documents to help the TWG. Site visits were organized for representatives of the Commission and authorities to demonstrate working practices.

The first official draft of the chlor-alkali BREF (including the BAT proposals) has been published at the end of December 2011 and is available to the public. Read it on the web pages of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (PDF document).

The improvement proposals must be communicated by March 9 at the latest and the Euro Chlor task force has started gathering all industry comments.

Updated: January 2012