News » Publication of the inception impact assessment - revision of the E-PRTR

Inception Impact Assessments aim to inform citizens and stakeholders about the Commission's plans in order to allow them to provide feedback on the "Revision of the Regulation on the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR)" and to participate effectively in future consultation activities. Citizens and stakeholders are in particular invited to provide views on the Commission's understanding of the problem and possible solutions and to share any relevant information that they may have, including on possible impacts of the different options.

Regulation EC 166/2006 created the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) - a Europe-wide portal of easily accessible key environmental data on large industrial facilities. Since 2007, the E-PRTR holds data reported by some 30 000 industrial facilities covering 65 economic activities. Facility operators provide data on their annual mass releases to air, water and land, as well as off-site transfers of waste and pollutants in wastewater. The data cover 91 pollutants including greenhouse gases, heavy metals and pesticides. E-PRTR activities closely mirror those regulated under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

The E-PRTR implements EU obligations in the PRTR (Kyiv) Protocol and therefore contributes to transparency and public participation in environmental decision-making. As the Protocol dates from 2003, there are ongoing UNECE discussions on how the Protocol might be updated to better reflect current knowledge and needs.
The European Green Deal (EGD) commits the Commission to revise, in 2021, EU measures to address pollution from large industrial installations and to make them consistent with climate, energy and circular economy policies whilst contributing to steer the EU towards zero pollution.

In general, the overall structure of the E-PRTR appears to function well. However, specific aspects have been identified where there may be potential to enhance the legal framework or find alternative approaches to improve its performance and EU added value. Policy options will be developed for the following aspects:
Aspect 1: Baseline Scenario: No change to the current E-PRTR reporting arrangements.
Aspect 2: Inclusion of additional sectors: Consider activities that might be advantageous to include in the E-PRTR in order to improve data capture on industrial releases/transfers or to improve coherence with related legislation; in particular the IED but also relevant water and waste legislation.
Aspect 3: Inclusion of additional pollutants: Consider pollutants that might be advantageous to include in the E-PRTR. This should include new substances that are of recent environmental concern; aligning pollutants with those covered by related legislation; disaggregating existing pollutant groupings to improve data value; and lowering reporting thresholds to improve the capture of industrial sources.
Aspect 4: Access to information and participation in decision making: Further to the recent consolidation of IED and E-PRTR reporting in the ?EU Registry on Industrial Sites?, identify any weaknesses, and possible options, for enhancing the quality, ease and speed of public access to E-PRTR information.
Aspect 5: Reporting modalities: Explore the options for improving the information in areas of the current E-PRTR identified as showing weaknesses (data on waste transfers, diffuse emissions and releases in products) and more flexible data collection routes e.g. top-down E-PRTR reporting for homogeneous activities, interface with IED monitoring as well as using digital solutions to increase the efficiency and timeliness at MS level.
Aspect 6: Contribution to the circular economy and the decarbonisation of industry as well as enhancing its contribution to the zero pollution ambition: Explore the untapped potential for the E-PRTR, in conjunction with the IED, to contribute to circular economy objectives, including options for realising that potential, such as requiring additional data on resource consumption e.g. use of energy, water, raw materials.
These six aspects will be analysed in close coordination with the analysis of the parallel impact assessment for the revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) in order to ensure coherence.

The aim of the public consultation and targeted stakeholder consultation will be to allow the public and all stakeholders to provide evidence and give views on the best options to enhance the EU?s industrial emissions legislation. The public consultation will be based on a questionnaire which will be published to the Commission?s ?Have Your Say? portal and will run for 12 weeks. There will be a separate targeted consultation for key stakeholders. In addition, stakeholder meetings will be organised to: (1) present and discus the main issues and options under consideration, and (2) present and discuss the main conclusions of the impact assessment.
The main expected stakeholder groups to be consulted are: Member States / public authorities, business associations (in particular agro-industrial industries), non-governmental / civil society organisations, individuals, and workers associations / trade unions.
Consultation results will be published on the Commission?s central page once all the activities are completed.