IPPC Baseline Reporting To Become Serious Very Soon

Slovenian legislation is still lagging behind in transposing the IPPC/IED baseline reporting requirements into national environmental law. However, the Slovenian government recently presented a new draft decree that inter alia defines and specifies the obligation of drawing up baseline reports. Many industries will be hit by the new legislation, which is expected to enter into force by the end of 2014.

Background

The Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU ("IED") concerns more than 50,000 installations throughout Europe carrying out activities such as the combustion of fuels, iron and steel, paper and pulp, the tanning of hides and skins, waste treatment, food production, or chemicals processing (collectively, "IPPC activities"). The IED inter alia sets forth stringent measures on the protection of soil and groundwater. One of the most essential measures introduced with the IED in that context is the establishment of a so-called "baseline report". The baseline report must contain data on the status of the groundwater and soil on the industrial site of the IPPC activity. When the activity is definitely ceased, the (final) operator must again provide data proving that no significant deterioration in the status of the groundwater and soil occurred. If deterioration has occurred, the operator must undertake clean-up actions.

The status quo in Slovenia

The incorporation of the IED provisions into Slovenian environmental legislation was enacted in 2013 through the adoption of an amendment to the Environmental Protection Act (Zakon o varstvu okolja; "EPA-1F"). The EPA-1F inter alia stipulates the obligation to draw up baseline reports in accordance with the IED. However, the transitional provisions of the EPA-1F explicitly stipulate that the obligation of baseline reporting only takes effect six months after the adoption of a government regulation detailing the content of baseline reports and setting the criteria for determining relevant hazardous substances. This government regulation, which will be released by adopting a new Decree on activities and installations causing large-scale environmental pollution (Uredba o vrsti dejavnosti in naprav, ki lahko povzročajo onesna~evanje okolja večjega obsega; the "Decree"), was envisioned to be adopted within three months after the enforcement of the EPA-1F. However, the Decree has not been issued so far. Consequently, at least under the national legislation, the Slovenian operators of IPPC...