Legal analysis: application of chapter II of the Industrial Emissions Directive in the Energy Community

This brief analysis provides a basic overview of how Chapter II and related annexes (esp Annex I) of the EU Directive 2010/75/EU (Industrial Emissions Directive, hereinafter also IED) could be included as part of the legally binding framework of the Energy Community.

Chapter II of the IED includes rules on a range of industrial installations and provides measures that are supposed to ensure that their impacts to the environment are reduced in a holistic manner and to a large extent. In the centre of these measures is the obligation of operators of installations to hold an integrated environmental permit. The conditions of permits are harmonised by means of documents that describe the “best available techniques” to be used in a given industry and include emissions limit values for
installations.

The legal framework of the Energy Community already contains a reference to the predecessor of Chapter II of the IED, the so-called IPPC-Directive (96/61/EC). However, this instrument is not directly applied but members of the Energy Community are merely obliged to “endeavour to implement” the Directive. Turning Chapter IED into part of the legally binding rules applied in the Energy Community would therefore not be a revolutionary step. On the other hand, it would promote the founding principles and objectives of the TEEC: ensure fair competition, improve environmental situation and provide opportunities for an enhanced public participation, to name the most relevant.