Elena Bobu

EU ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY FOR INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION CONTROL IPPC DIRECTIVE

In this paper a short introduction in the EU Environmental Policy is made in order to create the frame for presentation of the IPPC Directive (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control). The IPPC Directive represents the main piece of legislation for the regulation of industrial emissions to air, water and land in the European Union. IPPC rely upon skilled authorities to set emission limit values, which have to be based on a technical level known as Best Available Technique. Best Available Technique (BAT) is defined for each industry sector in the BREF (BAT Reference document), which is the result of information exchange between Member States and the industry concerned on best available techniques, associated monitoring and developments in them. The BREF represents the tool for IPPC implementation, being guidelines for the EU countries, when setting up ELVs (Emission Limit Values) to be included in the individual operational permits. The BREF should reflect the IPPC principles, which consist in applying BAT to a sector taking account of a number of criteria, including costs, multi-media, the difference between new and existing mills etc. Moreover, cost-benefit assessment should be a prerequisite for the selection of BAT to assure effective allocation of investments. IPPC assumes the environmental principles that the European Union uses as a basis and which have become a fundamental tool of Sustainable Development