.svg)
In response to the accident that occurred on September 26, 2019, in Rouen at the Lubrizol facility, classified as a high-tier Seveso site, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity announced last February an action plan aimed at better preventing accidents likely to occur at industrial sites. A project to tighten regulations concerning industrial risk prevention was thus launched last April. Under public consultation since last June, this project primarily concerns Seveso sites, and particularly those classified under the nomenclature of installations classified for environmental protection (ICPE) under one or more sections dedicated to warehouses. The main objective of this project is to prevent fires from occurring there.
The upcoming final adoption of this project provides an opportunity to revisit what the term « Seveso establishment » encompasses.
The Origin of Seveso Establishments
Seveso is the name of a municipality located in Italy. In 1976, a significant industrial accident occurred there, caused by the overheating of a reactor manufacturing a chemical compound: the human and environmental consequences, linked to a dioxin release, were substantial.
While by no means the first accident of its kind to occur on the old continent, it had major repercussions on European regulations. It prompted European states to adopt a common policy for industrial risk prevention.
Directive 82/501/EEC of June 24, 1982, was adopted by the Council of the European Communities and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (formerly the European Union) on August 5, 1982. Revised several times, this directive is considered the « Seveso 1 Directive ». The « Seveso 2 Directive » was in turn adopted in 1996 and then replaced on July 4, 2012, by the « Seveso 3 Directive » (Directive 2012/18/EU).
As required by European law, European directives are intended to be transposed into the national law of each European Union Member State. The task therefore fell to all these Member States to respectively develop national regulations compliant with the objectives and aims set by the successive Seveso directives.
Specifically, Seveso establishments refer to industrial facilities that fall under both the scope of the Seveso directive and the national regulations of Member States through which this directive is implemented.
Note: Under French law, the operation of a Seveso establishment is necessarily subject to the prior issuance of an environmental authorization.
Seveso Establishment Classification Criteria
Annex I of the Seveso 3 Directive identifies, in table format, a number of hazardous substances to which thresholds are associated. If these substances are present (and not just handled/used) within an establishment in quantities exceeding these thresholds, the establishment may be considered a Seveso establishment, either « upper-tier » or « lower-tier ».
These thresholds are defined according to the quantities of hazardous substances present. If, taken individually, hazardous substances are not present within an establishment in quantities greater than or equal to their associated threshold quantities, a calculation formula known as the « summation rule » must be applied to determine whether the establishment should be considered a lower-tier or upper-tier Seveso site.
The same logic applies in French law. The introduction of headings 4XXX within the nomenclature of installations classified for environmental protection (ICPE) by Decree No. 2014-285 of March 3, 2014 reflected the then-government's desire to adhere as closely as possible to the Seveso 3 directive. Quite naturally, the structure of the fourth part of the ICPE nomenclature, dedicated to headings 4XXX, is modeled on that of Annex I of the Seveso 3 directive. The 4XXX headings are divided into eight series:
- 41XX => toxic substances
- 42XX => explosive substances
- 43XX => flammable substances
- 44XX => self-reactive, organic peroxides, pyrophoric, and oxidising substances
- 45XX => dangerous for the environment
- 46XX => other Seveso hazards
- 47XX and 48XX => specifically designated substances.
Structure of national regulations concerning Seveso establishments
National provisions dedicated to Seveso establishments are set out in the following texts:
- Law No. 2013-619 of July 16, 2013, which supplemented Chapter V of Title I of Book V of the Environmental Code with Section 9 dedicated to Seveso establishments (the section title being "Installations classified for environmental protection likely to cause major accidents involving hazardous substances"). A few legislative articles were integrated into this new section by this law.
- Decree No. 2014-284 of March 3, 2014. It is primarily this decree that gives substance to this section of the Environmental Code, introducing a number of regulatory articles imposing strict rules on operators of Seveso establishments.
- Order of May 26, 2014, relating to the prevention of major accidents in classified installations mentioned in Section 9, Chapter V, Title I of Book V of the Environmental Code.
Other scattered provisions specific to Seveso establishments can be found elsewhere, particularly in the Environmental Code. However, the vast majority of requirements specifically dedicated to Seveso establishments are found in the texts indicated above.
It should be noted that Seveso regulations are intertwined with a more general body of regulations that constitutes industrial environmental law. The Seveso establishments must therefore comply with the obligations applicable to them under these regulations.
Conclusion
The regulations associated with Seveso establishments are very specific and constantly evolving. The stakes of these regulations are very high in terms of public health and safety and environmental protection.
Should we welcome these upcoming regulatory changes? Perhaps. However, a troubling observation must be made: it is the occurrence of an industrial disaster that is at the root of an evolution in the rules related to preventing risks generated by the operation of Seveso establishments.
However, isn't the main problem that industrial environmental law is insufficiently enforced? Controls are, of course, carried out by the Administration, through the inspection of classified facilities, but the number of establishments to control is large, and it is practically impossible to ensure that Seveso establishments comply with all applicable obligations (and not just those specifically targeting Seveso establishments… non-compliance with more general regulatory provisions can also lead to significant accidents in Seveso establishments).