ICPE Inspection Priorities for 2025

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Each year, a directive from the Ministry of Ecological Transition defines the national actions for the inspection of classified facilities for environmental protection (ICPE).

It is the directive of December 3, 2024 that defines the ICPE inspection priorities for the year 2025.

Firstly, ongoing actions:

• Enforcement mission for classified facilities (inspection visits, processing of authorization and registration requests, review of studies submitted by the operator, fight against illegal operations, particularly waste management, proposals to the competent authority for updating regulatory requirements, review of activity cessation files submitted after the 1^st June 2022, ...)
• Other enforcement missions, within and outside classified facilities (application of mining regulations and those related to post-mining; control of hazardous equipment and products, other controls: REACH, biocides, hazardous pipelines, refrigerants, inspections related to the implementation of the anti-waste law for a circular economy);
• Integration of technological and health risks (implementation of PPRTs, management of polluted sites and soils, information for operators and stakeholders on regulations and the state of the environment, ...).

Secondly, thematic actions selected particularly based on the guidelines of ecological planning and lessons learned from observed accident rates:

Firstly, systematic actions:

• Rollout of the interministerial "PFAS" action plan:
  • monitoring the implementation of action plans aimed at eliminating or reducing PFAS emissions in aqueous discharges developed following analysis campaigns mandated by the order of June 20, 2023;
  • monitoring the application of use restrictions for certain PFAS compounds in fire-fighting foams under POP and REACH regulations; request for action plans for the replacement of fire-fighting foams;
  • monitoring the quantity of PFAS present in ICPE wastewater treatment plant sludge that is spread as fertilizer as part of a spreading plan

• Accidental risk management (managing the initial hours of an incident/accident):
  • "utilities loss" component (action primarily targeting SEVESO establishments): checking the effectiveness and relevance of measures planned to mitigate utility failures in case of an incident/accident, including verifying equipment maintenance and operational tests, available autonomy (in terms of duration and backup equipment), and the consideration of utilities necessary for the operation of risk control measures in the evaluation of their effectiveness.
  • "implementation of provisions related to initial environmental sampling in case of an accident" component (action primarily targeting facilities near populated areas / concerns Seveso sites and warehouses subject to authorization 1510): verification of the integration of initial environmental sampling implementation in case of an accident into the internal operations plan (POI) or the fire defense plan (PDI); checking and testing the effectiveness of agreements, contracts, or on-call duties put in place.

• Prevention of chronic risks:
  • Release of industrial land by accelerating the processing of business cessation files/
    • 3-year action: identify files related to the release of industrial land, categorize these files, define action priorities, identify the means to implement remediation;
    • action in 2025: identification of files and categorization by action priority, processing of the highest priority files.
  • Medium combustion plants with a power output between 5 and 50 MW falling under heading 2910: checking the type of fuel used in the combustion plant, checking atmospheric emissions and compliance with applicable monitoring frequencies and emission limit values (ELV), on-site inspection of flue gas treatment systems, checking compliance with the declaration of combustion plants on the "démarches simplifiées" website.
• Fight against illegal waste trafficking: Targeted actions on end-of-life vehicle (ELV) centers: inspection of illegal sites under ICPE regulations (no valid approval or not registered under heading 2712), implementation of the obligation to contract with an eco-organization or to set up an individual system, use of Trackdéchets by ELV center operators.

Furthermore, optional actions

Each region must implement an action of its choice from the actions listed in each of the following lists, as well as a regional initiative action:

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