Seveso III Directive

Background

Major accidents in the chemical industry have occurred worldwide. The Seveso accident in 1976 prompted the adoption of legislation within the European Union.

The aim of the Seveso III Directive 2012/18/EU is two-fold. Firstly, the directive aims to prevent major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances. Secondly, the directive aims to limit the consequences of such accidents for mankind but also for the environment.

The scope of the Seveso III Directive deals solely with the presence of dangerous substances in establishments. It covers both manufacturing plants as well as the storage of dangerous chemicals.

Today manufacturing plants and warehouses where aerosol products containing flammable propellants and/or liquids are present may fall under scope of the Directive depending on their respective tonnages and the presence of other dangerous chemicals.

In the event of an accident, flammable aerosols (small sealed containers of maximum 1 litre capacity) will clearly have a lower impact than LPG in bulk tanks. This lower hazard is widely recognised, however the current aggregation method assigns the same hazard level to LPG whether in bulk or in small containers.

However, due to the political context, FEA decided to abandon technical investigations, further studies and advocacy on higher threshold quantities for the P3a entry in the Seveso III Directive.