Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (repealed)Show full title

Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants (repealed)

Article 2U.K.

For the purpose of this Directive:

(1)

‘emission’ means the discharge of substances from the combustion plant into the air;

(2)

‘waste gases’ means gaseous discharges containing solid, liquid or gaseous emissions; their volumetric flow rates shall be expressed in cubic metres per hour at standard temperature (273 K) and pressure (101,3 kPa) after correction for the water vapour content, hereinafter referred to as (Nm3/h);

(3)

‘emission limit value’ means the permissible quantity of a substance contained in the waste gases from the combustion plant which may be discharged into the air during a given period; it shall be calculated in terms of mass per volume of the waste gases expressed in mg/Nm3, assuming an oxygen content by volume in the waste gas of 3 % in the case of liquid and gaseous fuels, 6 % in the case of solid fuels and 15 % in the case of gas turbines;

(4)

‘rate of desulphurisation’ means the ratio of the quantity of sulphur which is not emitted into the air at the combustion plant site over a given period to the quantity of sulphur contained in the fuel which is introduced into the combustion plant facilities and which is used over the same period;

(5)

‘operator’ means any natural or legal person who operates the combustion plant, or who has or has been delegated decisive economic power over it;

(6)

‘fuel’ means any solid, liquid or gaseous combustible material used to fire the combustion plant with the exception of waste covered by Council Directive 89/369/EEC of 8 June 1989 on the prevention of air pollution from new municipal waste incineration plants(1), Council Directive 89/429/EEC of 21 June 1989 on the reduction of air pollution from existing municipal waste incineration plants(2), and Council Directive 94/67/EC of 16 December 1994 concerning the incineration of hazardous waste(3) or any subsequent Community act repealing and replacing one or more of these Directives;

(7)

‘combustion plant’ means any technical apparatus in which fuels are oxidised in order to use the heat thus generated.

This Directive shall apply only to combustion plants designed for production of energy with the exception of those which make direct use of the products of combustion in manufacturing processes. In particular, this Directive shall not apply to the following combustion plants:

(a)

plants in which the products of combustion are used for the direct heating, drying, or any other treatment of objects or materials e.g. reheating furnaces, furnaces for heat treatment;

(b)

post-combustion plants i.e. any technical apparatus designed to purify the waste gases by combustion which is not operated as an independent combustion plant;

(c)

facilities for the regeneration of catalytic cracking catalysts;

(d)

facilities for the conversion of hydrogen sulphide into sulphur;

(e)

reactors used in the chemical industry;

(f)

coke battery furnaces;

(g)

cowpers;

(h)

any technical apparatus used in the propulsion of a vehicle, ship or aircraft;

(i)

gas turbines used on offshore platforms;

(j)

gas turbines licensed before 27 November 2002 or which in the view of the competent authority are the subject of a full request for a licence before 27 November 2002 provided that the plant is put into operation no later than 27 November 2003 without prejudice to Article 7(1) and Annex VIII(A) and (B);

Plants powered by diesel, petrol and gas engines shall not be covered by this Directive.

Where two or more separate new plants are installed in such a way that, taking technical and economic factors into account, their waste gases could, in the judgement of the competent authorities, be discharged through a common stack, the combination formed by such plants shall be regarded as a single unit;

(8)

‘multi-fuel firing unit’ means any combustion plant which may be fired simultaneously or alternately by two or more types of fuel;

(9)

‘new plant’ means any combustion plant for which the original construction licence or, in the absence of such a procedure, the original operating licence was granted on or after 1 July 1987;

(10)

‘existing plant’ means any combustion plant for which the original construction licence or, in the absence of such a procedure, the original operating licence was granted before 1 July 1987;

(11)

‘biomass’ means products consisting of any whole or part of a vegetable matter from agriculture or forestry which can be used as a fuel for the purpose of recovering its energy content and the following waste used as a fuel:

(a)

vegetable waste from agriculture and forestry;

(b)

vegetable waste from the food processing industry, if the heat generated is recovered;

(c)

fibrous vegetable waste from virgin pulp production and from production of paper from pulp, if it is co-incinerated at the place of production and the heat generated is recovered;

(d)

cork waste;

(e)

wood waste with the exception of wood waste which may contain halogenated organic compounds or heavy metals as a result of treatment with wood preservatives or coating, and which includes in particular such wood waste originating from construction and demolition waste;

(12)

‘gas turbine’ means any rotating machine which converts thermal energy into mechanical work, consisting mainly of a compressor, a thermal device in which fuel is oxidised in order to heat the working fluid, and a turbine.

(13)

‘Outermost Regions’ means the French Overseas Departments with regard to France, the Azores and Madeira with regard to Portugal and the Canary Islands with regard to Spain.