Atmospheric pollution: large combustion plants, limitation of emissions (amend. direct. 88/609/EEC)

In response to Parliament's first reading, the Commission presents an amended proposal on the limitation of emissions from large combustion plants. A number of Parliament's amendments are accepted, either in full, partially or in principle. In general, the Commission does not accept those amendments which propose more stringent emission limit values and which seek to extend the scope of the proposal to cover large combustion plants for which a license was issued before 1 January 2000. Amendments accepted fully or in part: - Amendment 1: recital to state the aims of Community Strategy on Acidification - Amendment 3: economic instruments to reduce SO2 and NOx emissions. - Amendment 5: requirement to submit proposals before 1 July 2007.to update the emission value limit applicable. This will be done through the implementation of the Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC). - Amendment 15:dissemination of information to public and appropriate organisations to the extent that it can be accommodated through the development of a Pollutant Emission Register under the IPPC Directive. Amendments not accepted by the Commission: - Amendment 2: this relates through international treaties to emission limit values in Directive 88/609, which are subject to revision under the Commission's proposal - Amendment 4: gas turbines on offshore platforms are excluded from the scope due to the operational characteristics of these installations. Propulsion applications will not be included in the scope since the proposal addresses emissions from stationary sources only. - Amendment 6 : the derogation for Spain cannot be deleted - Amendments 8, 12, 14, 20: these propose to revise the emission limit values applicable to large combustible plants for which a license was issued between 1 July 1987 and 1 January 2000 and also to apply these emission limit values to plants for which a license was issued before 1 July 1987. Emissions from the latter category are controlled through national sectoral ceilings. Member States can achieve the required emission limits in the most cost-effective manner at national level. The scope of the proposal is therefore limited to new plants for which a license is issued after 1 January. Amendments 7, 11 and 13 - the Commission does not consider more stringent emission limit values to be more appropriate, since it aims to set minimum standards that can be applied at Community level. Member States may apply more stringent values if warranted by local circumstances or to meet emission targets for sulphur dioxide or nitrogen oxides resulting from the Commission·s proposal on national emission ceilings.�