Royal Legislative Decree 1/2016 of December 2016 on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
This law ensues Directive 96/61/EC of the European Union on the prevention and integrated control of pollution. The purpose of this law is to prevent or, when not possible, to reduce and control pollution in the atmosphere, water, and soil by establishing an integrated pollution prevention and control system. This law is applicable to combustion installations, oil and gas refineries and gasification and liquefaction facilities, amongst others.
The owners of facilities are required to have the integrated environmental authorization (compiles dispersed set of environmental authorizations required to date) and comply with regulations, notify the competent authority in the case of any modifications or changes in ownership, immediately inform the competent authority in the case of any incident that may affect the environment, and provide the necessary assistance and collaboration to those who carry out surveillance, inspection, and control actions.
The integrated environmental authorization will include emission limit values for polluting substances, prescriptions that guarantee the minimization of long-distance and cross-border pollution and systems for treating and controlling all types of emissions and waste, measures related to operating conditions in non-normal situations that may affect the environment such as leaks.
The competent body shall set emission limit values that guarantee that under normal operating conditions, emissions do not exceed the emission levels associated with the best available techniques. The owners of the facilities must notify, at least annually, to the autonomous communities where they are located, emissions data corresponding to the facility, specifying the methodology used in measurements, frequency, and procedures used for evaluation. The autonomous communities must make public their integrated environmental authorizations.
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