IPPC seminar

Mrs. Mary Gaerty and Ing. Ray Piscopo, both active members of the FOI Environment Committee, participated in a workshop on 'Integrated Pollution Prevention Control (IPPC) - Best Available Techniques (BAT)'.

Their presence at this seminar was made possible thanks to the financing provided by the organisers - the Technical Assistance Information Exchange Office (TAIEX) of the European Commission, in co-operation with CEFIC and Union des Industries Chimiques (UIC). The workshop took place in Paris on June 27-28 and was mainly targeted at candidate countries.

This two-day workshop consisted of four different sections, which discussed the IPPC and its application in the member states; the organisation in charge to prepare the BREFs (Best Available Techniques Reference Documents); the BREFs of the chemical industry; and the views of CEFIC.

The IPPC Directive 96/61/EC, as well as the definition and principal players involved in IPPC activities, was discussed at length, while various case studies were delivered throughout the workshop. The workshop also outlined the roles played in the preparation of BREFs by the various stakeholders such as the European Commission; the Information Exchange Forum; the European IPPC Bureau; member states and industry itself.

This forum enabled Mrs Gaerty and Ing. Piscopo to obtain a better understanding of the implications of the IPPC Directive, as well as to understand how BREFs are prepared to cover the various horizontal and vertical issues.

Moreover, this gave the opportunity to members of the FOI Environment Committee to benefit from the experience and to discuss the application of the IPPC directives to local industry.