Considerations on COM(2022)157 - Reporting of environmental data from industrial installations and establishing an Industrial Emissions Portal

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dossier COM(2022)157 - Reporting of environmental data from industrial installations and establishing an Industrial Emissions Portal.
document COM(2022)157 EN
date April 24, 2024
 
(1) The Eighth Environment Action Programme of the European Union adopted by Decision No XXX/202X/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 31  requires the Commission, Member States, regional and local authorities and stakeholders, to effectively apply high standards of transparency, public participation and access to justice in accordance with the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters 32  (‘the Aarhus Convention’), both at Union and Member State level.

(2) The Aarhus Convention, ratified by the European Community on 17 February 2005 by Council Decision 2005/370/EC , recognises that increased public access to environmental information and the dissemination of such information contribute to a greater awareness of environmental matters, a free exchange of views, more effective participation by the public in environmental decision-making and, eventually, to a better environment.

(3) On 2 December 2005, the European Community ratified the UNECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (‘the Protocol’) by Council Decision 2006/61/EC .

(4) Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council 33 , established a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register in order to implement the Protocol.

(5) The Commission’s second report 34 on implementation of Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 concluded that reporting obligations should be streamlined by further exploring synergies with other related Union environmental legislation on pollution from industrial installations, including in particular Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 35  and Council Directive 91/271/EEC 36 . The report also highlighted the need to explore options for additional contextual information to make reported data more effective.

(6) Commission communication ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil' 37 , established a Union action plan on zero pollution, energy, decarbonisation and circular economy, and promoted the effective use of reported information in the wider zero pollution monitoring and outlook framework and under the monitoring framework provided for in the Eighth Environmental Action Programme.

(7) In line with the conclusions of the Commission’s second report on implementation of Regulation (EC) No 166/2006, the Commission, supported by the European Environment Agency (‘the Agency’), developed in June 2021 an Industrial Emissions Portal (‘the Portal’) 38  to replace the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register and therefore improve synergies with reporting under Directive 2010/75/EU.

(8) The Portal should provide the public with free-of-charge and online access to a further integrated and coherent dataset on key environmental pressures generated by industrial installations since such data constitute a cost-effective tool for drawing comparisons and taking decisions in environmental matters, encouraging better environmental performance, tracking trends, demonstrating progress in pollution reduction, benchmarking installations, monitoring compliance with relevant international agreements, setting priorities and evaluating progress achieved through Union and national environmental policies and programmes.

(9) The Portal should present the data it contains in aggregated and non-aggregated forms to permit users to undertake targeted searches.

(10) The reporting requirements should apply at ‘installation level’ in order to implement synergies between the Portal and databases on environmental pressures from industrial installations, including those covered by Directive 2010/75/EU, and to ensure coherence with, and support to, the implementation of that Directive.

(11) To comply with requirements of the Protocol, reporting requirements should apply to all activities listed in its Annex I. In addition, and with a view to achieving synergies with related Union environmental legislation affecting industrial installations, the scope of this Regulation should also align with the industrial activities under Annexes I and Ia to Directive 2010/75/EU and with selected activities covered by Directive (EU) 2015/2193 of the European Parliament and of the Council 39 .

(12) In order to monitor the environmental performance of industrial installations, the data to be included in the Portal should cover, above quantitative thresholds, releases to the environment of certain pollutants, off-site transfers of waste water containing these pollutants and off-site transfers of waste.

(13) The Portal should also include data on the use of water, energy and raw materials by the concerned installations to allow monitoring of progress towards a circular, highly resource-efficient economy

(14) The Aarhus Convention, ratified by the European Community on 17 February 2005 by Council Decision 2005/370/EC 40 , recognises that increased public access to environmental information and the dissemination of such information contribute to a greater awareness of environmental matters, a free exchange of views, more effective participation by the public in environmental decision-making and, eventually, to a better environment.

(15) Operators of installations should also report information concerning the production volume, number of employees and operating hours of the concerned installation as well as information on accidents that have led to releases, in order to enable the contextualisation of reported data on pollutant releases and off-site transfers of waste and waste water.

(16) The overall benefit of the Portal for access to environmental information concerning industrial installations should be maximised by including links to other information flows that stem from Union environmental legislation on climate change, air, water and land protection and on waste management, including reporting under Directive 2012/18/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 41 , Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 42 and Directive 2010/75/EU. Moreover, in order to maximise the Portal’s value to users, it should be designed to facilitate future integration with other relevant environmental data flows. 

(17) For the purpose of legal certainty, operators of installations should be required to enter a nil return when releases and off-site transfers of waste and of waste water from their installations are below reporting thresholds.

(18) To improve the quality of reported data and to ensure their comparability, it is appropriate to harmonise quantification methods to be used by operators when reporting releases, off-site transfers of waste, off-site transfers of waste water and resource use. Operators should therefore be required to use, as a priority, measurement as the most accurate quantification method and, if not practicable, calculation, whereas estimation should only be used as a last resort.

(19) As the operators of livestock production and aquaculture installations may lack the necessary resources to accurately quantify their deliberate releases of pollutants, Member States should be entitled to quantify them on their behalf.

(20) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of the provisions of this Regulation regarding reporting by Member States, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to establish the type and format of information to be provided and the reporting deadlines. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council 43 .

(21) Given the importance for the Union citizens of quick access to environmental information, it is essential that Member States and the Commission make data publicly available as fast as technically feasible. To that end, whereas the precise reporting deadline is to be established in an implementing act, it should be no later than 11 months after the end of the reporting year.

(22) Where appropriate, the Portal should also facilitate access to information on releases from diffuse sources in order to enable decision-makers to better put into context those releases and to choose the most effective solution for pollution reduction.

(23) Data reported by the Member States should be of high quality in particular as regards their accuracy, completeness, consistency and credibility. Competent authorities should therefore assess the quality of the data provided by operators. 

(24) Public access to environmental information reported by Member States should be unrestricted and exceptions from this rule should only be possible in accordance with Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 44 or with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council 45 , as appropriate.

(25) Public participation should be ensured in further development of the Portal by providing early and effective opportunities to submit comments, information, analysis and opinions for the decision-making process.

(26) In order to enhance the usefulness and impact of the Portal, the Commission, supported by the Agency, should develop guidance supporting the implementation of this Regulation.

(27) It should be possible for the Commission to update the list of industrial or agricultural activities in relation to which reporting requirements apply. The Commission should therefore be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty amending Annex I to this Regulation to add activities that have, or are expected to have, an impact on health or the environment and to align the Annex with amendments to the Protocol.

(28) The Commission should also be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty to amend Annex II to this Regulation to determine reporting thresholds, to add pollutants which are subject to specific regulatory measures under Union law on water and air quality and on chemicals, including Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council 46 , Directives 2000/60/EC 47 , 2004/107/EC 48 , 2006/118/EC 49 , 2008/50/EC 50 and 2008/105/EU 51  of the European Parliament and of the Council, to reflect changes made to the Protocol with regard to the pollutants to be reported or their reporting thresholds, and to adapt that Annex to scientific or technical progress.

(29) The Commission should also be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty to amend Annex II to this Regulation to determine reporting thresholds, to add pollutants which are subject to specific regulatory measures under Union law on water and air quality and on chemicals, including Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council 52 , Directives 2000/60/EC 53 , 2004/107/EC 54 , 2006/118/EC 55 , 2008/50/EC 56 and 2008/105/EU 57  of the European Parliament and of the Council, to reflect changes made to the Protocol with regard to the pollutants to be reported or their reporting thresholds, and to adapt that Annex to scientific or technical progress.

(30) When adopting delegated acts, it is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making 58 . In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(31) In order to ensure effective implementation of this Regulation, Member States should lay down rules on penalties applicable to its infringements and should ensure that they are implemented.

(32) Since Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 needs to be substantially modified, it should be repealed and replaced by this Regulation for reasons of legal certainty, clarity and transparency.

(33) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely to enhance public access to environmental information through the establishment of an integrated, coherent Union-wide electronic database, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States as the need for comparability of data in Member States argues for a high level of harmonisation, but can rather be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(34) The reporting requirements established by this Regulation should apply as from the reporting year 2025 in order to provide sufficient time for Member States and concerned operators to take the necessary measures. 

(35) In order to ensure data continuity and legal certainty, Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 should continue to apply for the reporting year 2024.