Supporting

• The Secretariat supports the Contracting Parties in their efforts to transpose and implement the provisions of both Directives.
• Contracting Parties received technical assistance to develop their National Emissions Reduction Plans and their emission reporting of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust from large combustion plants.
• The Secretariat teamed up with the European Environment Agency so that emission reporting takes place in compliance with the European standards.
• The Secretariat supports municipalities in the framework of the Clean Air Regions Initiative to monitor local emissions of particulate matter with the aim of achieving local solutions for air quality improvements.
   

Monitoring

• The Secretariat monitors the Directive’s implementation through its regular activities and presents the results of its assessment in its Annual Implementation Report.
• Contracting Parties have to submit until 31 March each year their emission inventories of the emissions of their large combustion plans. The assessment of the emission data is done in cooperation with the European Environment Agency.
• Emissions of particulate matter obtained by smart sensors can be followed live either online or via an application.
   

Timeline

Tasks

• Contracting Parties have to ensure that the large combustion plants operating on their territories fulfil the requirements of
  • the Large Combustion Plants Directive up until 31 December 2027), and,
  • the Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU from 1 January 2028 onwards.
• Large combustion plants shall be retrofitted or upgraded to meet the technical standards required by the Directives.
• Contracting Parties have to submit until 31 March each year their emission inventories of the emissions of their large combustion plants to the European Environment Agency (EEA). 
• The evaluation of the emissions data is carried out jointly by the EEA and the Secretariat.

Legal basis and purpose

With their signatures of the Treaty, the Contracting Parties agreed to limit the air pollutant emissions originating from large combustion plants. Large Combustion Plants Directive 2001/80/EC determines the type of applicable combustion plans, the measures to reduce the emissions and the respective deadlines.

With Decision 2013/05/MC-EnC, the Ministerial Council provided the Contracting Parties the possibility to use, until 31 December 2027, the option of national emission reduction plans (NERPs). NERPS stand for an implementation alternative to the emission limit values, where compliance is not verified at individual, plant-by-plant level but an overall emission ceiling at national level can be set. Such an emission ceiling is calculated on the basis of the Directive’s emission limit values. As a result, the Contracting Parties have more flexibility in deciding on the sequence of investments that are necessary to be made in their respective energy sectors.

Another instrument that was also adapted for the Energy Community needs is the “opt-out” (limited lifetime derogation) possibility. The Ministerial Council agreed that the opt-out was applicable between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2023, for a total number of 20 000 operational hours.

Based on Decision 2013/06/MC-EnC of the Ministerial Council, existing LCPs have to meet the stricter requirements of Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU from 1 January 2028 onwards.