 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
Press Release from The European Commission DG Environment
The European Commission today welcomed the agreement on the first revision of the Seveso II Directive reached in conciliation yesterday. The Directive is now strengthened in a number of areas, such as information for the public, training for emergencies and the involvement of subcontracted personnel. Moreover, the new Directive now also obliges industrial operators to produce risk maps showing areas that might be affected by a major accident. Last but not least, the Directive requires Member States to provide the Commission with minimum data on all Seveso sites within their territory.
Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said : "I am pleased that the Council and the European Parliament unanimously decided to broaden the scope and to strengthen the provisions of the existing Seveso II Directive. The adoption of the Directive will at the same time represent the completion of the first of three key actions announced by the Commission in the aftermath of the Baia Mare mining accident of 2000. Furthermore, it contains measures in response to the Enschede and Toulouse accidents. I hope that the new legislation will help to prevent major accidents involving dangerous substances from happening again”.
The revised Seveso II Directive now covers chemical and thermal processing operations in mining as well as operational tailings management facilities containing dangerous substances.
In response to the Enschede and Toulouse accidents, the scope of Seveso II was tightened with regard to explosive and pyrotechnic substances as well as ammonium nitrate. Furthermore, its provisions on land-use planning were reinforced, including a mandate for the Commission to develop a European database to be used for assessing the compatibility between Seveso establishments and sensitive areas.
The new Directive also includes more carcinogenic substances and the qualifying quantities for substances toxic to aquatic environment have been significantly decreased.
Background
In its “Baia Mare” Communication of October 2000(1), the Commission announced three key actions as a follow-up to mining accidents: (1) an extension of the Seveso II Directive to certain mining activities involving dangerous substances, (2) a new Directive on the management of mining waste and (3) a Best Available Technology Reference Document (BREF) on tailings management facilities.
On 2 June 2003, the Commission adopted a Proposal for a Directive on the management of waste from the extractive industries(2) . Work on the BREF on tailings management facilities should be concluded by the beginning of next year. (1)COM(2000)664 (2)COM(2003) 319 final
|
|||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
