Council Directive of 12 June 1986 on limit values and quality objectives for discharges of certain dangerous substances included in List I of the Annex to Directive 76/464/EEC (86/280/EEC) (repealed)

Article 1 U.K.

1. This Directive:

• lays down, pursuant ot (SIC! to) Article 6 (1) of Directive 76/464/EEC, limit values for emission standards for the substances referred to in Article 2 (a) in discharges from industrial plants as defined in Article 2 (e) of this Directive,

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

• lays down, pursuant to Article 6 (4) of Directive 76/464/EEC, 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,

• lays down, pursuant to Article 12 (1) of Directive 76/464/EEC, the reference methods of measurement enabling the content of the substances referred to in Article 2 (a) of this Directive in discharges and in the aquatic environment to be determined,

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

• requires Member States to draw up programmes to avoid or eliminate pollution arising from the sources referred to in Article 5,

• lays down in Annex I a set of general provisions applicable to all the substances referred to in Article 2 (a) and relating, in particular, to limit values for emission standards (heading A), quality objectives (heading B) and reference methods of measurement (heading C),

• lays down in Annex II a set of specific provisions which amplify and supplement those headings in respect of individual substances.

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

Article 2 U.K.

For the purposes of this Directive:

(a)

‘substances’ means:

those dangerous substances, belonging to the families and groups of substances appearing in List I in the Annex to Directive 76/464/EEC, which are specified in Annex II to this Directive;

(b)

‘limit-values’ means:

the values specified in Annex II, under heading A, in respect of the substances referred to in (a);

(c)

‘quality objectives’ means:

the requirements specified in Annex II, under heading B, in respect of the substances referred to in (a);

(d)

‘handling of substances’ means:

any industrial process involving the production, the processing or use of the substances referred to in (a), or any other industrial process in which the presence of such substances is inherent;

(e)

‘industrial plant’ means:

a plant at which the substances referred to in (a), or any other substances containing them, are handled;

(f)

‘existing plant’ means:

an industrial plant which is operational at a date 12 months after the date of notification of this Directive or, where applicable, at a date 12 months after the date of notification of any Directive amending it that relates to such plant;

(g)

‘new plant’ means:

• an industrial plant which becomes operational later than 12 months after the date of notification of this Directive or, where applicable, later than 12 months after the date of notification of any Directive amending it that relates to such plant,

• an existing industrial plant whose capacity for handling the substances is substantially increased later than 12 months after the date of notification of this Directive or, where applicable, later than 12 months after the date of notification of any Directive amending it that relates to such plant.

Article 3 U.K.

1. The limit values, the time limits for compliance therewith and the procedures for monitoring discharges are laid down in the Annexes, under heading A.

2. The limit values shall normally apply at the point where waste waters containing the substances referred to in Article 2 (a) leave the industrial plant.

Should it be considered necessary in the case of certain substances to lay down other points where the limit values shall apply, these points shall be listed in Annex II.

When waste waters containing these substances are treated outside the industrial plant at a treatment plant intended for their removal, the Member State may permit the limit values to be applied at the point where the waste waters leave the treatment plant.

3. The authorizations referred to in Article 3 of Directive 76/464/EEC must contain provisions as stringent as those set out under heading A in the Annexes to this Directive, except where a Member State is complying with Article 6 (3) of Directive 76/464/EEC on the basis of heading B in the Annexes 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 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 those reasons.

The Commission shall immediately forward such evidence to the other Member States and shall send all Member States a report, at the earliest opportunity, 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 the substances referred to in Article 2 (a) is given under heading C in Annex II. 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 under heading C in Annex II.

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

Article 4 U.K.

The Member States concerned shall be responsible for monitoring the aquatic environment affected by discharges from industrial establishments and by other sources of significant 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.

1. As regards substances to which specific reference is made in Annex II, the Member States shall draw up specific programmes to avoid or eliminate pollution from significant sources of these substances (including multiple and diffuse sources) other than sources of discharges subject to Community limit value rules or national emission standards.

2. The programmes shall include the most appropriate measures and techniques for the replacement, retention and/or recycling of the substances referred to in paragraph 1.

3. The specific programmes must be implemented not later than five years after the date of notification of the Directive which relates specifically to the substance concerned.

Article 6 U.K.

[F1 1. At intervals of three years the 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. This report shall be drawn up on the basis 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 questionaire (SIC! 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 sent to the Commission within nine months of the end of the three-year period covered by it.

The first report shall cover the period from 1993 to 1995 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.]

2.. Should there be a change in scientific knowledge relating principally to the toxicity, persistence and accumulation of the substances referred to in Article 2 (a) 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 making the limit values and the quality objectives more stringent, if appropriate, or of establishing new limit values and additional quality objectives.

Textual Amendments

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

Article 7 U.K.

1. Member States shall bring into force the measures necessary to comply with this Directive by 1 January 1988. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission, immediately after adoption, the texts of the provisions of national law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.

Article 8 U.K.

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.