England & Wales Comply with Integrated Permitting Directive
By Maggie Dutton, Policy Manager (Industry Regulation), Environment Agency

Industrial production processes account for a substantial share of the overall pollution in Europe, including offsetting greenhouse gases, acidifying substances, wastewater emissions, and more. As a result, the European Union (EU) developed a set of common rules for permitting and controlling industrial installations in the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive of 1996.

The IPPC Directive requires operators of industrial installations to apply Best Available Techniques (BAT) to prevent, or where that is not practicable, to minimise pollution to the environment as a whole. Operators must obtain a permit from the relevant authority and this will include conditions designed to achieve the BAT requirement. The permits are complex as they cover all environmental media and a wide range of industrial processes including power stations, food and drink, chemicals, waste treatment and disposal, and intensive farming. The IPPC Directive implementation deadline, by which time existing installations must be operating under an IPPC permit, was 30 October 2007.

There are two aspects to consider in respect of this deadline:

• Have all installations covered by the Directive applied for a permit?
• Have permits (where appropriate) been issued in time?

This article sets out how the Environment Agency, which regulates IPPC installations in England & Wales, ensured a high level of compliance with both of these requirements.

How Did the Environment Agency Ensure Operators Complied?

United Kingdom (UK) legislation required operators of existing installations to apply for a permit within specific periods ahead of the EU Directive deadline. There was a high degree of compliance with this requirement. This is partly due to significant overlap between IPPC and previous permitting regimes in the UK, but also because the Agency took specific actions with those sectors not previously regulated by it, for example:

• The Agency works closely with the trade associations for the new sectors, right from the start, to make sure that the requirements of the Directive are explained to all operators likely to be affected. This included two large and diverse new sectors: food and drink (400 installations) and intensive farming (1,000 installations). As a result, the Agency could better estimate the number of applications received allowing it to better plan their resources.
• Where it appeared that operators in a particular sector might be reluctant to make applications, the Agency made it clear that enforcement action will follow.
• The Agency worked with government legislators and operators in cases where it was not clear whether the Directive applied to certain activities. One operator still submitted applications for permits even though they continued to challenge the Agency's interpretation through the Courts.

One problem that the Agency encounters is that data protection legislation prevents the use of information held by trade associations or Government to identify operators likely to be covered by the Directive. Time spent on trying to identify non-applicants wastes regulatory resources and increases the cost of ensuring a high degree of compliance.

How did we ensure permits were issued in time?

Experience from similar complex permitting regimes taught the Agency that IPPC implementation could be resource intensive. It is also important that the Agency deliver work in line with the income received from regulatory charges, which in the UK are levied on the operator under the "polluter pays" principle. The following components were essential to delivering this task:

• The overall approach, adopted in UK legislation was to phase in sectors over a six-year period to spread the workload up to the Directive deadline. This meant the Agency could concentrate effort sector by sector as a rolling programme.
• The Agency worked with government legislators to develop guidance on the interpretation of the Directive and domestic legislation. It also set up an Interpretation Group to resolve issues as they arose during the implementation phase.
• The Agency prepared a 'regulatory package' for operators ahead of each permitting tranche, which provided application forms, guidance on technical and regulatory requirements, and more. Permit templates were also available so that operators could see what to expect.
• In order to manage the workload more efficiently, the Agency set up dedicated national permitting teams, rather than using its previous working model of local combined permitting and compliance. This significantly reduced permitting time.

The successful outcome

The Environment Agency is responsible for permitting most installations in England & Wales. It received over 3,300 IPPC applications and made 95 percent of decisions by the deadline date. To date, it issued over 3,000 IPPC permits, other applications were refused or withdrawn. The remaining applications, which the Agency has yet to determine, are those that have particularly complex environmental issues or were received late (in these cases the Agency is considering further enforcement action).