IMPEL Workshop on the use of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons (CHC) in Industrial Plants

On March 13-16, 2000 the IMPEL Workshop on the Use of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons (CHC) in Industrial Plants took place in Ossiach in Carinthia, Austria. The main objective of this workshop was to compare the situation in the Member States (MS) and Accession Countries (AC) and to give an overview on the current EU-regulations dealing with CHCs. Additionally the workshop offered the opportunity to discuss on the VOC-directive and on the BAT and to give feedback to the European Commission (EC).

The current situation in the MS and AC was presented through contributions of the participants from the MS and AC, practically complemented by two excursions to existing installations using CHCs for degreasing in Carinthia and in Slovenia. It was the first time in the history of IMPEL, that so many civil servants of the AC participated actively in an IMPEL-workshop.

The evaluation of the questionnaire, which was distributed to all MS and AC in advance, indicated that all countries are aware of the problems dealing with CHCs but demonstrated among others that there were great differences in:

regulations and calculations for fugitive emissions;
technical standards concerning the use and storage of CHCs;
monitoring and remediation of contaminated sites;
limit and threshold values for soil and groundwater;
implementation of substitution-programmes.

Details were discussed in four working groups under the headings:

air emission limit values in the VOC-directive;
methods of estimation and calculation of fugitive emissions;
pollution prevention concerning CHC;
soil and groundwater remediation.

The results of the working groups were presented by rapporteurs and discussed in the plenary session.

Based on the outcome of the IMPEL workshop the following main conclusions can be drawn:

The VOC-directive is a starting point in the right direction, but its implementation has to be monitored and the obligation for soil-gas-analysis has to be amended.
The different technical standard in the MS and AC requires harmonisation in form of BAT or EN-documents.
Tighter national regulations/standards must still exist beneath VOC - directive
Generally there is an urgent need for information for the MS as well as for the AC. A data base concerning practices and guidelines in other countries, BAT and alternatives to CHC should be provided by IMPEL.
There is an urgent need for harmonisation of ECO-funds in order to support the remediation of old contaminated sites, the use of alternatives and substitutes to CHCs and the use of best technologies.

Although some issues were unresolved the workshop proved to be effective and successful for all participants.