Brussels, 05/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The committee on the environment of the European Parliament, which is chaired by Jo Leinen (S&D, Germany), is in favour of updating the rules on the prevention of major industrial actions involving dangerous substances within the EU. The objective is to tighten the rules whilst taking account of the entry into force of the European CLP (classification, labelling and packaging of substances and blends) and REACH (registration, evaluation and limited authorisation of chemical products) legislation, bringing the European system for the classification of these substances into line with the harmonised general system of the United Nations, but also providing clearer information for the public and more frequent on-site inspections. Its vote at first reading on the proposal from December 2010 aiming to revise Directive 96/82/EC on keeping dangers under control in the event of a major industrial disaster involving dangerous chemical substances, the Seveso II directive (EUROPE 10283), took place on Tuesday 4 October, the anniversary of the “red sludge” mining disaster in Hungary, and just a few days after the 10th anniversary of the AZF disaster in Toulouse.
The members of the parliamentary committee would like the public to have access to clear information on local sites on the Internet. “The objective is to provide vital information in an easily comprehensible form for interested citizens, whilst respecting the concerns of national security and the legitimate confidentiality of the businesses”, explained Janos Ader (EPP, Hungary), the rapporteur.
The inspections should be carried out at least every three years and at least once a year for sites with a higher risk, the MEPs believe. Although some Seveso sites already respond to these rules by virtue of the directive concerning industrial emissions, this means that others will be inspected more frequently in the future. In addition to this updating of Seveso II, a parliamentary committee calls on the Commission to investigate whether the scope of the directive could be extended in the future, for example to include offshore oil drilling, oil pipelines and certain nano-materials.
Readers may recall that the Seveso II directive obliges the management of all businesses in which substantial quantities of dangerous substances are used (10,000 sites are concerned) to notify their activities and to establish emergency plans to protect the citizens and the environment from the consequences of any major industrial accidents, of which there are some 20 to 30 a year. The new international classification of chemical substances, which makes better assessments of the risks possible and allows the same dangers to be referred to identically on the labelling of products everywhere in the world, will not considerably change the number of industrial sites subject to these rules. (AN/transl.fl)