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technical guidance documents - Institute for Health and Consumer ...

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ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT<br />

the substance present in products imported/exported. The total volume released is averaged over<br />

the year <strong>and</strong> used <strong>for</strong> the PECregional calculation.<br />

The B-tables of Appendix I are used <strong>for</strong> the determination of the releases from point sources <strong>for</strong><br />

the evaluation of PEClocal. They provide the fraction of the total volume released that can be<br />

assumed to be released through a single point source, <strong>and</strong> the number of days during which the<br />

substance is released, thus allowing the daily release rate at a main point source to be calculated.<br />

Despite the need <strong>for</strong> applying expert judgement when determining the fraction of main source,<br />

the following general guidelines <strong>for</strong> the emission estimation should be applied:<br />

• <strong>for</strong> production the input <strong>for</strong> the regional production volume is by default set at the EU<br />

production volume, which is also used as input <strong>for</strong> the B-tables. Based on the in<strong>for</strong>mation<br />

available to the rapporteur on the number of production sites, size distribution <strong>and</strong> geographic<br />

distribution it can be decided to apply a 10% rule, where it is assumed that 10% of the amount<br />

that is produced <strong>and</strong> used in the EU is produced/used within a region <strong>and</strong> it is subsequently<br />

assumed that the size of the main local source can be obtained by multiplying this amount with<br />

the fraction of main source from the B-tables. Alternatively it can be decided to use another<br />

percentage or to use specific values as input <strong>for</strong> the regional model (e.g. the emissions from the<br />

largest source or the emissions from the largest emitter) where this reflects a more realistic<br />

worst case. Similarly this in<strong>for</strong>mation can be used to set the fraction of main source <strong>for</strong> the<br />

local exposure calculation. It should be noted that if site-specific data are available then it can<br />

be the case that the largest site is not the largest source of emissions;<br />

• <strong>for</strong> <strong>for</strong>mulation <strong>and</strong> processing (industrial use) a similar approach as <strong>for</strong> production is used:<br />

by default the EU volume is used as input <strong>for</strong> the region as well as <strong>for</strong> the B-tables unless it<br />

can be shown/is known that a large number of sites with a reasonable European distribution<br />

exists <strong>for</strong> the specific <strong>for</strong>mulation/processing step of the substance involved. In that case<br />

again it can be decided to apply the 10% rule, to use another percentage or to use specific<br />

values. Whether or not the available in<strong>for</strong>mation is sufficient <strong>for</strong> a specific substance will<br />

depend on the expert judgement by the rapporteur;<br />

• <strong>for</strong> private use the 10% rule is applied by default both <strong>for</strong> the input of the regional volume<br />

<strong>and</strong> <strong>for</strong> the input volume <strong>for</strong> the B-table in agreement with the assumption of 10% of the use<br />

occurring in the region.<br />

It must be realised that depending on the IC/UC combination this approach may in some cases<br />

lead to unreasonable worst-case assumptions, especially <strong>for</strong> the estimation of the emissions<br />

during <strong>for</strong>mulation/processing. Hence, a case-by-case assessment using expert judgement<br />

remains warranted. For new substances the default should be overwritten anyway because it may<br />

be assumed that in most cases just one or at the most a few producers exist.<br />

To obtain the best entry to the tables <strong>for</strong> emission factors, Appendix I also contains a list of<br />

synonyms <strong>for</strong> functions of substances. The synonyms <strong>and</strong> their definitions have been derived<br />

from the US EPA ChemUSES list (US EPA, 1980).<br />

In general, the data supplied by industry will help to find the correct entry to the release tables<br />

apart from the classification specified in Chapter 5.<br />

The production volume is expressed in tonnes/year in the data set <strong>and</strong> denoted by PRODVOL.<br />

TONNAGE is the volume of substance that is used <strong>for</strong> subsequent life-cycle stages. In the emission<br />

tables of Appendix IB, PRODVOL must be used <strong>for</strong> T when estimating releases at production<br />

whereas TONNAGE should be used as T <strong>for</strong> the subsequent life-cycle stages. If at the disposal<br />

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