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Each year, a directive from the Ministry of Ecological Transition defines the national actions of the inspection of classified facilities for environmental protection (ICPE).
The instruction dated December 23, 2025 defines the priorities for the inspection of ICPEs (Classified Installations for Environmental Protection) for the year 2026.
The following areas can be identified as inspection priorities:
Firstly, with regard to "long-term" actions, these are identical to those for 2024 and include the following points:
- Police duties relating to classified facilities (inspection visits, processing of authorization and registration applications, examination of studies submitted by operators, combating illegal operations, particularly in waste management, proposals to the competent authority for updating regulations, examination of cessation of activity files submitted after June1, 2022, etc.);
- Other police duties, both inside and outside classified facilities (enforcement of mining and post-mining regulations; inspection of hazardous equipment and products; other inspections: REACH, biocides, hazardous pipelines, refrigerants, inspections relating to the enforcement of anti-waste legislation for a circular economy);
- Integration of technological and health risks (implementation of PPRTs, management of polluted sites and soils, provision of information to operators and stakeholders on regulations and the state of the environment, etc.).
Secondly, systematic actions are selected based in particular on ecological planning guidelines and feedback from accident statistics:
On the one hand, the following systematic priority actions are planned for 2026:
- Post-fire action in Rouen: Verification of knowledge, by operators storing combustible materials in warehouses classified under ICPE 1510, of the condition of materials stored within their facilities.
- Continuation of the interministerial PFAS action plan: Monitoring the implementation of concrete action plans at each facility to reduce PFAS emissions in wastewater and move toward the elimination of PFAS wastewater discharges.
- Freeing up industrial land by speeding up the processing of business closure files: The action in 2025 was to identify the files and categorize them by priority for action, then process the highest priority files. The action in 2026 is a continuation of the processing of files, which is expected to be completed in 2027.
- Prevention of chronic risks: Applies to large combustion plants with a capacity greater than or equal to 50 MW: monitoring compliance with some of the best available techniques applicable to these plants: monitoring the type of fuel used in the combustion plant, operating conditions outside normal operating periods, monitoring atmospheric emissions and compliance with applicable monitoring frequencies and emission limit values (ELVs), on-site monitoring of flue gas treatment systems.
- Combating illegal waste trafficking: Targeted actions on end-of-life vehicle (ELV) centers: inspection of illegal sites targeting waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), or battery management facilities: inspection of illegal sites under ICPE regulations or those without a valid permit, implementation of the obligation to enter into a contract with an eco-organization or to set up an individual system, use of Trackdéchets by ELV center operators.
On the other hand, optional national actions are determined.
Each region must implement one action from each of the following lists, as well as one regional initiative:
