Legal action over industrial permits and nature protection

摘要

The European Commission took action last week against countries for infringing directives concerning industrial permits and nature protection. It is sending nine member states first written warnings for failing to issue new or updated permits for more than 9,000 industrial installations operating across Europe. These countries did not satisfactorily issue these permits by the 30 October 1999 deadline under the Integrated Pollution, Prevention and Control (IPPC) Council Directive 96/61/EC. "All installations in the European Union must abide by strict emissions standards," said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. "These standards have been established to minimise the negative effects of industrial pollution on the health of our citizens and the environment."