Council Directive 1999/13/EC of 11 march 1999 on the limitation of emission of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain activities and installations.

Aim of the Directive

The aim of the SED is to reduce transboundary air pollution by preventing or reducing the direct and indirect effects of emmisions of volatile organic compounds into the environment by providing measures and procedures to be implemented for the activities defined in Annex I, in so far as they are operated above the solvent consumption thresholds listed in Annex IIA. Industries which use volatile organic solvents and are covered by the Directive are listed below:

All new installations must comply with the provisions of the Directive. Moreover, all new installations not already covered by Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control must be registered or undergo authorisation before being put into operation.

Member States must take the necessary measures to ensure that existing installations are registered or their activities authorised if they have not yet been authorised under Council Directive 96/61/EC. They must comply with the same requirements as for new installations no later than 30 October 2007.

All instalations shall conform with the specified emission limits in either of the following ways:

Substances or preparations which have a serious effect on human health (carcinogens, mutagens, or toxic to reproduction), must be replaced, as far as possible, by less harmful substances within the shortest possible time. For harmful substances. are specified stricter emission values.

Member States may define and implement national plans for reducing emissions from the activities and industrial installations covered by Article 1 (excluding activities 4 and 11 of Annex IIA). They must submit the plan to the Commission for approval.
Member States shall introduce an obligation for the operator of an installation coverad by this Directive to supply the component authority once a year or on request with data that enables verification of compliance with this Directive.
Channels to which abatment equipment is connected, and which at the final point of discharge emit more than an average of 10kg/h of total organic carbon, shall be monitored continuously for compliance.
In other cases, Member States shall ensure that either continuous or periodic measurements are carried out. For periodic measurements at least three readings shall be obtained during each measurement exercise.

Directive requires to be transposed into regulations by April 2001 and all installations must meet its requirements by October 2007.