N    Official Journal of the European Communities    27.4.2001     L 118/41    II

 

 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE

EUROPEAN UNION,

 

 

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European

 

Community and in particular Article 175(1) thereof,

 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

 

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social

Committee (1),

 

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the

Regions (2),

 

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article

251 of the Treaty (3), and in the light of the joint text approved

by the Conciliation Committee on 8 January 2001,

Whereas:

 

(1) The resolution of the Council and of the Representatives

of the Governments of the Member States, meeting

within the Council, of 1 February 1993 on a

Community programme of policy and action in relation

to the environment and sustainable development (4) and

the Decision of the European Parliament and the Council

on its review (5) emphasised the importance of implementation

of Community environmental law through

the concept of shared responsibility.

 

(2) The Commission Communication of 5 November 1996

to the Council of the European Union and the European

Parliament on implementing Community environmental

law, in particular paragraph 29 thereof, proposed the

establishment of guidelines at Community level in order

to assist Member States in carrying out inspection tasks,

thereby reducing the currently-existing wide disparity

among Member States' inspections.

 

(3) The Council in its resolution of 7 October 1997 on

the drafting, implementation and enforcement of

Community environmental law (6) invited the Commission

to propose, for further consideration by the

Council, in particular on the basis of the work of the

European Union network for the implementation and

enforcement of environmental law (IMPEL), minimum

criteria and/or guidelines for inspection tasks carried out

at Member State level and the possible ways in which

their application in practice could be monitored by

Member States, in order to ensure an even practical

application and enforcement of environmental legislation,

and the Commission's proposal has taken into

account a paper produced by IMPEL in November 1997

and entitled ‘Minimum Criteria for Inspections’.

 

(4) The European Parliament by its resolution of 14 May

1997 on the Commission's Communication called for

Community legislation on environmental inspections,

and the Economic and Social Committee and the

Committee of the Regions gave favourable opinions on

the Commission's Communication and stressed the

importance of environmental inspections.

 

(5) Different systems and practices of inspection already

exist in Member States and should not be replaced by a

system of inspection at Community level, as was considered

in the Council resolution of 7 October 1997, and

Member States should retain responsibility for environmental

inspection tasks.

 

(6) The European Environment Agency can advise the

Member States on developing, setting up and extending

their systems for monitoring environmental provisions

and can assist the Commission and the Member States in

monitoring environmental provisions by giving support

in respect of the reporting process, so that reporting is

coordinated.

(7) The existence of inspection systems and the effective

carrying out of inspections is a deterrent to environmental

violations since it enables authorities to identify

breaches and enforce environmental laws through sanctions

or other means; thus inspections are an indispensable

link in the regulatory chain and an efficient instrument

to contribute to a more consistent implementation

and enforcement of Community environmental legislation

across the Community and to avoid distortions of competition.

 

(8) There is currently a wide disparity in the inspection

systems and mechanisms among Member States in terms

not only of their capacities for carrying out inspection

tasks but also of the scope and contents of the inspection

tasks undertaken and even in the very existence of

inspection tasks in a few Member States, and this is a

situation which cannot be considered satisfactory with

reference to the objective of an effective and more

consistent implementation, practical application and

enforcement of Community legislation on environmental

protection.

 

(9) It is necessary, therefore, to provide, at this stage, guidelines

in the form of minimum criteria to be applied as a

common basis for the performance of environmental

inspection tasks within the Member States.

 

(10) Community environmental legislation obliges Member

States to apply requirements in relation to certain emissions,

discharges and activities; minimum criteria on the

organisation and carrying out of inspections should be

met in the Member States, as a first stage, for all industrial

installations and other enterprises and facilities

whose air emissions and/or water discharges and/or

waste disposal or recovery activities are subject to

authorisation, permit or licensing requirements under

Community law.

 

(11) Inspections should take place taking into account the

division of responsibilities in the Member States between

authorisation and inspection services.

 

(12) In order to make this system of inspections efficient,

Member States should ensure that environmental inspections

activities are planned in advance.

 

(13) Site visits form an important part of environmental

inspection activities.

 

(14) The data and documentation provided by industrial

operators registered under the Community eco-management

and audit scheme could be a useful source of

information in the context of environmental inspections.

 

(15) In order to draw conclusions from site visits, regular

reports should be established.

 

(16) Reporting on inspection activities, and public access to

information thereon, are important means to ensure

through transparency the involvement of citizens, nongovernmental

organisations and other interested actors

in the implementation of Community environmental

legislation; access to such information should be in line

with the provisions of Council Directive 90/313/EEC of

7 June 1990 on the freedom of access to information on

the environment (1).

  

(17) Member States should assist each other administratively

in operating this recommendation. The establishment by

Member States in cooperation with IMPEL of reporting

and advice schemes relating to inspectorates and inspection

procedures would help to promote best practice

across the Community.

 

(18) Member States should report to the Council and the

Commission on their experience in operating this

recommendation and the Commission should regularly

inform the European Parliament.

 

(19) The Commission should keep the operation and effectiveness

of this recommendation under review and

report thereon to the European Parliament and the

Council as soon as possible after the receipt of the

Member States' reports.

 

(20) Further work by IMPEL and Member States, in cooperation

with the Commission, should be encouraged in

respect of best practices concerning the qualifications

and training of environmental inspectors.

 

(21) In accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and

proportionality as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, and

given the differences in inspection systems and mechanisms

in the Member States, the objectives of the

proposed action can best be achieved by guidance set

out at Community level.

 

(22) In the light of the experience gained in the operation of

this recommendation and taking account of IMPEL's

further work, as well as of the results of any schemes

provided for in this recommendation, the Commission

should, upon receipt of Member States' reports, give

consideration to developing the minimum criteria in

terms of their scope and substance and to making

further proposals which might include a proposal for a

directive, if appropriate,

 

 

HEREBY RECOMMEND:

    I

Purpose

Environmental inspection tasks should be carried out in the

Member States, according to minimum criteria to be applied in

the organising, carrying out, following up and publicising of

the results of such tasks, thereby strengthening compliance

with, and contributing to a more consistent implementation

and enforcement of Community environmental law in all

Member States.   

 

    II

    Scope and definitions

 

1. (a) This recommendation applies to environmental inspections

of all industrial installations and other enterprises

and facilities, whose air emissions and/or water

discharges and/or waste disposal or recovery activities

are subject to authorisation, permit or licensing requirements

under Community law, without prejudice to

specific inspection provisions in existing Community

legislation.

(b) For the purposes of this recommendation, all the installations

and other enterprises and facilities referred to in

point (a) are ‘controlled installations’.

 

2. For the purposes of this recommendation, ‘environmental

inspection’ is an activity which entails, as appropriate:

(a) checking and promoting the compliance of controlled

installations with relevant environmental requirements set

out in Community legislation as transposed into national

legislation or applied in the national legal order (referred to

hereinafter as ‘EC legal requirements’);

(b) monitoring the impact of controlled installations on the

environment to determine whether further inspection or

enforcement action (including issuing, modification or

revocation of any authorisation, permit or licence) is

required to secure compliance with EC legal requirements;

(c) the carrying out of activities for the above purposes

including:

— site visits,

— monitoring achievement of environmental quality standards,

— consideration of environmental audit reports and statements,

— consideration and verification of any self monitoring

carried out by or on behalf of operators of controlled

installations,

— assessing the activities and operations carried out at the

controlled installation,

— checking the premises and the relevant equipment

(including the adequacy with which it is maintained)

and the adequacy of the environmental management at

the site,

— checking the relevant records kept by the operators of

controlled installations.

 

3. Environmental inspections, including site visits, may be:

(a) routine, that is, carried out as part of a planned inspections

programme; or

(b) non-routine, that is, carried out in such cases in response to

complaints, in connection with the issuing, renewal or

modification of an authorisation, permit or licence, or in

the investigation of accidents, incidents and occurrences of

non-compliance.

 

4. (a) Environmental inspections may be carried out by any

public authority at either national, regional or local

level, which is established or designated by the Member

State and responsible for the matters covered by this

recommendation.

(b) The bodies referred to in point (a) may, in accordance

with their national legislation, delegate the tasks

provided for in this recommendation to be accomplished,

under their authority and supervision, to any

legal person whether governed by public or private law

provided such person has no personal interest in the

outcome of the inspections it undertakes.

(c) The bodies referred to in points (a) and (b) are defined as

‘inspecting authorities’.

 

5. For the purposes of this recommendation, an ‘operator of

a controlled installation’ is any natural or legal person who

operates or controls the controlled installation or, where this is

provided for in national legislation, to whom decisive

economic power over the technical functioning of the

controlled installation has been delegated.

 

III

Organisation and carrying out of environmental

Inspections

 

1. Member States should ensure that environmental inspections

aim to achieve a high level of environmental protection

and to this end should take the necessary measures to ensure

that environmental inspections of controlled installations are

organised and carried out in accordance with points IV to VIII

of this recommendation.

 

2. Member States should assist each other administratively

in carrying out the guidelines of this recommendation by the

exchange of relevant information and, where appropriate,

inspecting officials.

 

3. To prevent illegal cross-border environmental practices,

Member States should encourage, in cooperation with IMPEL,

the coordination of inspections with regard to installations and

activities which might have significant transboundary impact.

EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27.4.2001 L 118/44

 

4. In order to promote best practice across the Community,

Member States may, in cooperation with IMPEL, consider the

establishment of a scheme, under which Member States report

and offer advice on inspectorates and inspection procedures in

Member States, paying due regard to the different systems and

contexts in which they operate, and report to the Member

States concerned on their findings.

 

IV

Plans for environmental inspections

 

1. Member States should ensure that environmental inspection

activities are planned in advance, by having at all times a

plan or plans for environmental inspections providing coverage

of all the territory of the Member State and of the controlled

installations within it. Such a plan or plans should be available

to the public according to Directive 90/313/EEC.

 

2. Such plan or plans may be established at national,

regional or local levels, but Member States should ensure that

the plan or plans apply to all environmental inspections of

controlled installations within their territory and that the

authorities mentioned in point II(4) are designated to carry out

such inspections.

 

3. Plans for environmental inspections should be produced

on the basis of the following:

(a) the EC legal requirements to be complied with;

(b) a register of controlled installations within the plan area;

(c) a general assessment of major environmental issues within

the plan area and a general appraisal of the state of compliance

by the controlled installations with EC legal requirements;

(d) data on and from previous inspection activities, if any.

 

4. Plans for environmental inspections should:

(a) be appropriate to the inspection tasks of the relevant

authorities, and should take account of the controlled

installations concerned and the risks and environmental

impacts of emissions and discharges from them;

(b) take into account relevant available information in relation

to specific sites or types of controlled installations, such as

reports by operators of controlled installations made to the

authorities, self monitoring data, environmental audit information

and environmental statements, in particular those

produced by controlled installations registered according to

the Community eco-management and audit scheme

(EMAS), results of previous inspections and reports of

environmental quality monitoring.

 

5. Each plan for environmental inspections should as a

minimum:

(a) define the geographical area which it covers, which may be

for all or part of the territory of a Member State;

(b) cover a defined time period, for example one year;

(c) include specific provisions for its revision;

(d) identify the specific sites or types of controlled installations

covered;

(e) prescribe the programmes for routine environmental

inspections, taking into account environmental risks; these

programmes should include, where appropriate, the

frequency of site visits for different types of or specified

controlled installations;

(f) provide for and outline the procedures for non-routine

environmental inspections, in such cases in response to

complaints, accidents, incidents and occurrences of noncompliance

and for purposes of granting permission;

(g) provide for coordination between the different inspecting

authorities, where relevant.

 

 

V

    Site visits

 

1. Member States should ensure that the following criteria

are applied in respect of all site visits:

(a) that an appropriate check is made of compliance with the

EC legal requirements relevant to the particular inspection;

(b) that if site visits are to be carried out by more than one

environmental inspecting authority, they exchange information

on each others' activities and, as far as possible,

coordinate site visits and other environmental inspection

work;

(c) that the findings of site visits are contained in reports made

in accordance with point VI and exchanged, as necessary,

between relevant inspection, enforcement and other

authorities, whether national, regional or local;

(d) that inspectors or other officials entitled to carry out site

visits have a legal right of access to sites and information,

for the purposes of environmental inspection.

 

2. Member States should ensure that site visits are regularly

carried out by inspecting authorities as part of their routine

environmental inspections and that the following additional

criteria are applied for such site visits:

(a) that the full range of relevant environmental impacts is

examined, in conformity with the applicable EC legal

requirements, the environmental inspection programmes

and the inspecting bodies' organisational arrangements;

(b) that such site visits should aim to promote and reinforce

operators' knowledge and understanding of relevant EC

legal requirements and environmental sensitivities, and of

the environmental impacts of their activities;

EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27.4.2001 L 118/45

(c) that the risks to and impact on the environment of the

controlled installation are considered in order to evaluate

the effectiveness of existing authorisation, permit or

licensing requirements and to assess whether improvements

or other changes to such requirements are necessary.

 

3. Member States should also ensure that non-routine site

visits are carried out in the following circumstances:

(a) in the investigation by the relevant inspecting authorities of

serious environmental complaints, and as soon as possible

after such complaints are received by the authorities;

(b) in the investigation of serious environmental accidents,

incidents and occurrences of non-compliance, and as soon

as possible after these come to the notice of the relevant

inspecting authorities;

(c) where appropriate, as part of the determination as to

whether and on what terms to issue a first authorisation,

permit or licence for a process or activity at a controlled

installation or the proposed site thereof or to ensure the

compliance with the requirements of authorisation, permit

or licence after it has been issued and before the start of

activity;

(d) where appropriate, before the reissue, renewal or modification

of authorisations, permits or licences.

 

VI

Reports and conclusions following site visits

 

1. Member States should ensure that after every site visit the

inspecting authorities process or store, in identifiable form and

in data files, the inspection data and their findings as to

compliance with EC legal requirements, an evaluation thereof

and a conclusion on whether any further action should follow,

such as enforcement proceedings, including sanctions, the

issuing of a new or revised authorisation, permit or licence or

follow-up inspection activities, including further site visits.

Reports should be finalised as soon as possible.

 

2. Member States should ensure that such reports are properly

recorded in writing and maintained in a readily accessible

database. The full reports, and wherever this is not practicable

the conclusions of such reports, should be communicated to

the operator of the controlled installation in question according

to Directive 90/313/EEC; these reports should be publicly available

within two months of the inspection taking place.

 

VII

Investigations of serious accidents, incidents and occurrences

of non-compliance

 

Member States should ensure that the investigation of serious

accidents, incidents and occurrences of non-compliance with

EC legislation, whether these come to the attention of the

authorities through a complaint or otherwise, is carried out by

the relevant authority in order to:

(a) clarify the causes of the event and its impact on the environment,

and as appropriate, the responsibilities and

possible liabilities for the event and its consequences, and

to forward conclusions to the authority responsible for

enforcement, if different from the inspecting authority;

(b) mitigate and, where possible, remedy the environmental

impacts of the event through a determination of the appropriate

actions to be taken by the operator(s) and the

authorities;

(c) determine action to be taken to prevent further accidents,

incidents and occurrences of non-compliance;

(d) enable enforcement action or sanctions to proceed, if

appropriate; and

(e) ensure that the operator takes appropriate follow-up

actions.

VIII

Reporting on environmental inspection activities in

General

 

1. Member States should report to the Commission on their

experience of the operation of this recommendation two years

after the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the

European Communities, using, to the extent possible, any data

available from regional and local inspecting authorities.

2. Such reports should be available to the public and should

include in particular the following information:

(a) data about the staffing and other resources of the

inspecting authorities;

(b) details of the inspecting authority's role and performance in

the establishment and implementation of relevant plan(s)

for inspections;

(c) summary details of the environmental inspections carried

out, including the number of site visits made, the proportion

of controlled installations inspected (by type) and estimated

length of time before all controlled installations of

that type have been inspected;

(d) brief data on the degree of compliance by controlled installations

with EC legal requirements as appears from inspections

carried out;

(e) a summary, including numbers, of the actions taken as a

result of serious complaints, accidents, incidents and occurrences

of non-compliance;

(f) an evaluation of the success or failure of the plans for

inspections as applicable to the inspecting body, with any

recommendations for future plans.

EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27.4.2001 L 118/46

 

    IX

Review and development of the recommendation

 

1. The Commission should review the operation and effectiveness

of this recommendation, as soon as possible after

receipt of the Member States' reports mentioned in point VIII

above, with the intention of developing the minimum criteria

further in terms of their scope in the light of the experience

gained from their application, and taking into account any

further contributions from interested parties, including IMPEL

and the European Environment Agency. The Commission

should then submit to the European Parliament and the

Council a report accompanied, if appropriate, by a proposal for

a directive. The European Parliament and the Council will

consider such a proposal without delay.

 

2. The Commission is invited to draw up, as quickly as

possible, in cooperation with IMPEL and other interested

parties, minimum criteria concerning the qualifications of

environmental inspectors who are authorised to carry out

inspections for or under the authority or supervision of

inspecting authorities.

3. Member States should, as quickly as possible, in cooperation

with IMPEL, the Commission and other interested parties,

develop training programmes in order to meet the demand for

qualified environmental inspectors.

 

X

Implementation

Member States should inform the Commission of the implementation

of this recommendation together with details of

environmental inspection mechanisms already existing or foreseen

not later than twelve months after its publication in the

Official Journal of the European Communities.

Done at Luxembourg, 4 April 2001.

For the European Parliament

The President

N. FONTAINE

For the Council

The President

B. ROSENGREN

 

(1) OJ C 169, 16.6.1999, p. 12.

(2) OJ C 374, 23.12.1999, p. 48.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 16 September 1999 (OJ C

54, 25.2.2000, p. 92), Council Common Position of 30 March

2000 (OJ C 137, 16.5.2000, p. 1) and Decision of the European

Parliament of 6 July 2000 (not yet published in the Official

Journal). Decision of the European Parliament of 1 February 2001

and Council Decision of 26 February 2001.

(4) OJ C 138, 17.5.1993, p. 1.

(5) OJ L 275, 10.10.1998, p. 1.

 

(6) OJ C 321, 22.10.1997, p. 1.

(1) OJ L 158, 23.6.1990, p. 56.

EN Official Journal of the European Communities 27.4.2001 L 118/43