Requirements
The Seveso III Directive introduces a wide range of preventive measures. The Member States must ensure that, through changes to land-use planning laws, the new plants are sited a safe distance away from existing ones, and that measures are in place to deal with accidents in areas around industrial installations housing large quantities of dangerous products. In Case C-53/10 Franz Mücksch, the CJEU held that this obligation also covers authorities participating in the execution of plans and policies connected with the objectives of preventing major accidents and limiting the consequences of such accidents. The absence of a land-use development plan cannot exempt those authorities from the obligation of taking into consideration when assessing applications for planning permission, the need to maintain appropriate distances between establishments.
Furthermore, the Directive sets strict inspection standards to ensure the safety rules are being effectively implemented. Moreover, the Member States should lay down rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive and ensure that they are implemented. Those penalties should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
The operators have a general obligation to take all necessary measures to prevent major accidents, to mitigate their consequences and to take recovery measures. Where dangerous substances are present in establishments above certain quantities, the operator must provide the competent authority with sufficient information to enable it to identify the establishment, the dangerous substances present and the potential dangers.
The authorities are required to prepare the external emergency plan. In Case C-392/08 Commission v Spain, concerning the Seveso II Directive, the CJEU held that the competent authorities are required to draw up the external emergency plans within a period which is not likely to jeopardise the effectiveness of the provisions of the Directive while taking account of the time needed to finalise those plans, and thus within a reasonable period from when the necessary information is supplied by the operators. The Seveso III Directive requires in Art. 12 that the external emergency plan is prepared within two years following receipt of the necessary information from the operator. Furthermore, the Member States must ensure that internal and external emergency plans are reviewed, tested, and where necessary updated by the operators and designated authorities respectively at suitable intervals of no longer than three years.
The operator should also draw up and, where required by national law, send to the competent authority a major-accident prevention policy (MAPP) setting out the operator’s overall approach and measures, including appropriate safety management systems, for controlling major-accident hazards. The operators have to provide safety reports, establish a safety management system and put in place an internal emergency plan. When the operators identify and evaluate the major-accident hazards, consideration should also be given to the dangerous substances which may be generated during a severe accident within the establishment.
Furthermore, the operators handling dangerous substances above certain thresholds and the authorities must regularly inform the people who could be affected by the accident about the risks and how to react in the event of an accident. That information, which explains how alerts will be sounded and how the public should act, must be available online. The Seveso III Directive also tightens the procedures for public consultation on projects, plans and programmes involving plants covered by the legislation. In particular, the Member States must ensure that the public concerned is given an early opportunity to give its opinion on external emergency plans when they are being established or substantially modified and also ensure that the public concerned is entitled to express comments and opinions to the competent authority before a decision is taken on a specific individual project and that the results of the consultations are duly taken into account in the taking of a decision.