Member State experts are currently working on a compromise proposal from the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU on the proposal for a regulation concerning the reporting of environmental data from industrial installations and the establishment of an industrial emissions portal.
Proposed in April 2022, this future regulation will transform the current European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) into a ‘European Industrial Emissions Portal’ and will provide public access to Europe-wide and local emissions information and to operating permits (see EUROPE 12926/2).
In essence, the attempted compromise, submitted on 20 April to the experts of the EU Council’s Working Party on Environment, provides some clarification on definitions and data confidentiality.
Definitions. It defines what a facility is. This term means “one or more installations on the same site that are operated by the same natural or legal person”.
Confidentiality. The text also adds that a Member State may ask the European Commission not to include data considered confidential in the portal and that the Commission shall accept this request provided that the Member State gives proper reasons for its position.
The future regulation establishing the European Industrial Emissions Portal has been proposed by the Commission to take account of the proposal for a strengthened directive on industrial emissions (the so-called ‘IED’ or Industrial Emissions Directive), on which the EU Council adopted its position on 17 March (see EUROPE 13143/6).
See the compromise text under discussion: https://aeur.eu/f/6kw (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)