| European Commission gives final warning to 12 Member States over failure to prepare emergency plans for chemical plants
Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: "Although we cannot eliminate the risk of industrial accidents in modern societies, we can strive to minimise the risks of such accidents happening and to mitigate their consequences. It is thus vital that legislation designed to deal with this is properly implemented. I am dismayed to see that several years after its entry into force and repeated warnings from the Commission, very few Member States have adopted external emergency plans for all installations concerned." The states that will receive written warnings are: Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Under the Seveso II directive, emergency plans must be drawn up for areas surrounding certain industrial installations where very large quantities of dangerous substances are to be found. Almost 8,000 establishments are subject to its safety requirements in the EU and about half of these need external emergency plans. External emergency plans must contain on-site and off-site mitigation actions and also provide the public with specific information relating to the accident and the behaviour to adopt. In every Member State designated authorities are responsible for drawing up these emergency plans and ensure they are tested and where necessary revised at least every three years. If the Member States fail to act on the warning letters, the European Commission can ask the European Court of Justice to impose a financial penalty on the Member State concerned.
•Date: 18th October 2007• Region: W.Europe •Type: Article •Topic: Manufacturing
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