Strasbourg, 19/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the European Parliament approved by majority voting, the common draft from the EP/Council conciliation on the revision of the "Seveso II" directive on mastering dangers linked to major accidents involving hazardous substances (EUROPE 11 September p 12). The way is therefore now open to the formal adoption of this draft as soon as the Council has in turn ratified it.
The main goal of this directive is to extend the field of application of Seveso II in order to draw lessons from the recent Baia Mare accidents (pollution of the Danube with cyanide in 2000), Enschede (explosion of pyrotechnic material in the Netherlands in 2000) and Toulouse (explosion of AZF chemical plant in France, 2001).
To this end, the new directive will cover mining activities - including operations for chemical and thermal treatment and storage linked to such operations, the largest installations for the processing of potassium nitrate, as well as installations for tailings disposal facilities. Such installations are active and have a potential to produce very serious consequences. The new directive will make it compulsory for the operator to train staff and all subcontractors in emergency first aid in the case of accidents and for Member States to make maps of location and descriptions of the classified Seveso II sites available to the public, to be provided by the operator in the security report. Three years after enforcement of the directive, the Commission will prepare a technical database on the risk of accident and scenarios for spatial planning reasons.