European Green Deal: Council agrees for industrial installations to provide better data on their environmental emissions
Today, the Council agreed on its negotiating mandate on a proposal for a regulation on the reporting of environmental data from industrial installations and establishing an Industrial Emissions Portal.
The proposal aims to upgrade the existing European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) in order to establish a more comprehensive and integrated industrial emissions portal.
The main objective of the revision is to make progress towards the Green Deal’s zero pollution ambition by providing the public with access to a more integrated and coherent dataset on key environmental emissions generated by industrial installations.
The negotiating mandate will serve as a basis for the Council to negotiate the final shape of the legislation with the European Parliament.
New and improved industrial emissions portal
The new regulation aims to ensure better alignment with the Industrial Emissions Directive and other related environmental laws, in terms of activities and pollutants covered, and in terms of reporting level.
It would include data on the use of water, energy and raw materials by the relevant installations for monitoring progress towards a circular, resource-efficient economy.
The proposal also aims to address current shortcomings in the E-PRTR regulation’s implementation, mainly on reporting, methodology and use of data.
Main changes by the Council
The Council agrees with the main objectives of the proposal, while bringing some detailed changes to it.
In its negotiating mandate, the Council limits administrative burden and optimises the added value of reporting. It sets out the objective of the regulation for more transparency and clarifies some definitions.
The Council also limits the empowerment of the Commission to adopt delegated acts to amend the scope of activities and pollutants covered by the regulation, as well as the applicable thresholds in Annex I (concerning the activities that require reporting above set thresholds) and II (concerning the pollutants that need to be reported above set thresholds).
Instead of delegated acts only, it opts for a mixed approach of delegated acts in some cases and decision-making by the Council and Parliament in others.
Member states align the provisions on penalties with their position on the Industrial Emissions Directive, namely introducing the flexibility needed for member states to adapt the provisions to their different national legal systems and accounting for the fact that the regulation only regulates reporting aspects.
The Council extends the entry into force of the regulation by two years, for member states to have enough time to adapt to the new rules.
The text of the mandate will be made public soon.
Next steps
The Council and Parliament will start negotiations to agree on the final shape of the legislation.The outcome of the negotiations will then need to be formally adopted by both institutions.
Background
The Commission adopted the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on reporting of environmental data from industrial installations and establishing an Industrial Emissions Portal on 5 April 2022.
The proposal amends and improves the existing European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR).
The E-PRTR gives public access to key environmental data from industrial facilities in EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia and the UK.
It is updated annually with data reported by some 35 000 industrial facilities covering 65 economic activities. This data includes 91 key pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, greenhouse gases and dioxins.
The E-PRTR is closely linked to the Industrial Emissions Directive, with reporting requirements for pollutant releases and transfers aligned with the permit conditions set out under the directive.
The Council adopted its negotiating mandate (general approach) on a proposal to amend the Industrial Emissions Directive on 16 March 2023.
