environmental legislation applicable to industrial gases ... - eiga

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IGC DOC 108/03 1 Introduction This guide confines the discussion of environmental legislation to that originating from the European Union. Whilst there is a wide variety of environmental legislation in each member state the main driving forces come from the EU with over 400 legislative instruments in place in 2001. This is part of a series of linked documents that replace the information given in IGC TN515. (A list of these documents is given in Appendix 1.) 2 Scope and purpose 2.1 Scope This document provides guidance on the European legislation concerning the main environmental aspects relevant to the Industrial Gases Industry. In all cases the relevant national legislation should consulted for the specific implementation in each country or region. 3 Definitions 3.1 Environmental Aspect These are elements of an organization’s activities, products or services that can interact with the environment. 3.2 Environmental Impact Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s activities, products or services. For example: the contamination of water with hazardous substances or the reduction of air emissions. 4 Environmental Legislation Relevant to the Industrial Gases Industry 4.1 General Environmental Aspects and Impacts and links to other EIGA documents This document covers in detail the legislation concerning industrial gases operations. There are several linked EIGA publications that provide more details on general environmental aspects, legislation for the gas industry and operational good environmental practices. A list of these linked documents is provided in Appendix 1. 4.2 Background Each company and site needs to be aware of the relevant environmental legislation so that they can comply. In addition ISO 14001 and European Eco Management and Audit scheme (EMAS) requires that the organisation has identified applicable legal requirements (and voluntary initiatives such as Responsible Care®). The ISO 14.001 environmental management system states, clause 4.3.1: “The organization needs to establish and maintain a procedure to identify the environmental aspects of its activities, products or services that it can control or over which it can be expected to have an influence, in order to determine those that have or can have significant impacts on the environment”. The management system procedures must then be established to assess the requirements and ensure that they are implemented. There must be a system to ensure that any breaches of legal requirements are identified and corrective actions put in place. 1
IGC DOC 108/03 4.3 EU Legislation 4.3.1 Principals of EU legislation The purpose of legislation is usually harmonisation of the laws to promote free trade and movement of goods under article 15 (previously article 100a), but this cannot be done at the expense of the environment. There are also community measures dealing with specific environmental issues under Articles 174/175 (previously articles 130r,s). The legislation sets policy and introduces common standards for the protection of the environment. The implementation is therefore up to the Member States. International agreements and conventions such as Montreal and Kyoto protocols, Basle convention etc also influences EU legislation. The EU Commission sets the long term plans for the legislation, and the strategy. Prior to the formal publication of legislation the Commission produces discussion documents (green and white papers) to get feedback from industry and other stakeholders (NGOs, consumer groups etc). 4.3.2 Strategy and Action programmes The EU legislative programme is organised around ‘strategic action programmes’. These define the actions to be taken or the principals to be applied in a 5-7 year time period. Typical principals of the action programmes, include • Polluter pays • Integration of Environmental considerations into other policy areas • Prevention is better than cure • No transfer across media. i.e. Air, Water, Land • Sustainable Development The 6 th action programme is currently in place. Figure 1 shows that the number of legislative instruments put in place each year is still increasing. No. of items of legislation adopted Figure 1 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 EU Legislation Adopted by Year 1967-2001 4.3.3 The Legislative Process 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 Year • The Commission proposes legislation. It is a non-elected body made up of nominated representatives from the member states. 2
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