Council Directive of 9 October 1984 on limit values and quality objectives for discharges of hexachlorocyclohexane (84/491/EEC) (repealed)

Article 1 U.K.

1. This Directive:

• pursuant to Article 6 (1) of Directive 76/464/EEC, lays down limit values for emission standards for HCH in discharges from industrial plants as defined in Article 2 (g) of this Directive,

• pursuant to Article 6 (2) of Directive 76/464/EEC, lays down quality objectives for HCH in the aquatic environment,

• pursuant to Article 6 (4) of Directive 76/464/EEC, lays down the time limits for compliance with the conditions specified in the authorizations granted by the competent authorities of Member States in respect of existing discharges,

• pursuant to Article 12 (1) of Directive 76/464/EEC, lays down the reference methods of measurement enabling the concentration of HCH in discharges and in the aquatic environment to be determined,

• pursuant to Article 6 (3) of Directive 76/464/EEC, establishes a monitoring procedure,

• requires Member States to cooperate with one another in the case of discharges affecting the waters of more than one Member State.

2. This Directive applies to the waters referred to in Article 1 of Directive 76/464/EEC with the exception of groundwater.

Article 2 U.K.

For the purposes of this Directive:

(a)

‘HCH’

means the isomers of l, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-hexachlorocyclohexane;

(b)

‘lindane’

means a product containing at least 99 % of the y-isomer of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-hexachlorocyclohexane

(c)

‘extraction of lindane’

means the separation of lindane from a mixture of hexachlorocyclohexane isomers;

(d)

‘limit values’

means the limit values specified in Annex I;

(e)

‘quality objectives’

means the requirements specified in Annex II;

(f)

‘treatment of HCH’

means any industrial process involving the production or use of HCH, or any other industrial process in which the presence of HCH is inherent;

(g)

‘industrial plant’

means any plant at which HCH or any other substance containing HCH is treated;

(h)

‘existing plant’

means an industrial plant which is operational on the date of notification of this Directive.

(i)

‘new plant’ means

• an industrial plant which has become operational after the date of notification of this Directive,

• an existing industrial plant whose capacity for the production or treatment of HCH has been substantially increased after the date of notification of this Directive.

Article 3 U.K.

1. The limit values, the time limits by which they must be complied with and the monitoring procedure for discharges are laid down in Annex I.

2. The limit values shall normally apply at the point where waste waters containing HCH leave the industrial plant.

If waste waters containing HCH are treated outside the industrial plant at a treatment plant intended for the removal of HCH, the Member State concerned may permit the limit values to be applied at the point where the waste waters leave the treatment plant.

3. The authorizations provided for in Article 3 of Directive 76/464/EEC must contain provisions at least as stringent as those in Annex I to this Directive, except where a Member State is complying with Article 6 (3) of Directive 76/464/EEC on the basis of Annexes II and IV to this Directive.

Authorizations shall be reviewed at least every four years.

4. Without prejudice to their obligations arising from paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 and to the provisions of Directive 76/464/EEC, Member States may grant authorizations for new plants only if those plants apply the standards corresponding to the best technical means available when that is necessary for the elimination of pollution in accordance with Article 2 of the said Directive or for the prevention of distortions of competition.

Whatever method it adopts, the Member State concerned shall, where for technical reasons the measures envisaged do not correspond to the best technical means available, provide the Commission, before any authorization, with evidence in support of these reasons.

The Commission shall forward this evidence to the other Member States immediately and shall send all Member States a report, as soon as possible, giving its opinion on the derogation referred to in the second subparagraph. If necessary, it shall at the same time submit appropriate proposals to the Council.

5. The reference method of analysis to be used in determining the presence of HCH is given in Annex III(1). Other methods may be used provided that the limits of detection, precision and accuracy of such methods are at least as good as those laid down in Annex III(I). The accuracy required in the measurement of effluent flow is given in Annex III(2).

6. Member States shall ensure that the measures taken pursuant to this Directive do not result in an increase in HCH pollution in other media, notably air and soil.

Article 4 U.K.

The Member States concerned shall be responsible for monitoring the aquatic environment affected by industrial discharges.

In the case of discharges affecting the waters of more than one Member State, the Member States concerned shall cooperate with a view to harmonizing monitoring procedures.

Article 5 U.K.

[F1 1. At intervals of three years Member States shall send information to the Commission on the implementation of this Directive, in the form of a sectoral report which shall also cover other pertinent Community Directives. The report shall be drawn up on the basis other (SIC! either) of a questionnaire or outline drafted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 6 of Directive 91/692/EEC (1) . The questionnaire or outline shall be sent to the Member States six months before the start of the period covered by the report. The report shall be made to the Commission within nine months of the end of the three-year period covered by it.

The first report shall cover the period 1995 to 1997 inclusive.

The Commission shall publish a Community report on the implementation of the Directive within nine months of receiving the reports from the Member States.]

3. In the event of a change in scientific knowledge relating principally to the toxicity, persistence and accumulation of HCH in living organisms and sediments, or in the event of an improvement in the best technical means available, the Commission shall submit appropriate proposals to the Council with the aim of reinforcing, if necessary, the limit values and the quality objectives or of establishing additional limit values and additional quality objectives.

Textual Amendments

F1 Inserted by Council Directive of 23 December 1991 (91/692/CEE).

Textual Amendments

F1 Inserted by Council Directive of 23 December 1991 (91/692/CEE).

Article 6 U.K.

1. Member States shall bring into force the measures necessary to comply with this Directive by 1 April 1986 at the latest. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the provisions of national law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.

Article 7 U.K.

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.