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The list below is an excerpt from publications in French and European official journals concerning environment, energy, and occupational health and safety for March 2025.
ENVIRONMENT
Integration of BREF LCP provisions into combustion installations classified under 3110 and other amendments to the combustion decree applicable to installations requiring authorization under heading 3110
Decree of August 3, 2018, concerning combustion installations with a total rated thermal input greater than or equal to 50 MW subject to authorization under heading 3110 AMENDED BY Decree of January 30, 2025, amending the decree of August 3, 2018 [Official Journal of March 16, 2025]
The decree of January 30, 2025, incorporates into this text the provisions of implementing decision 2021/2326 of November 30, 2021 (BREF LCP) in order to have a single regulatory text targeting large combustion installations, and to facilitate its interpretation for installations subject to the BREF LCP. It is also supplemented with general provisions applicable to all combustion devices covered by this text (whether or not they apply the conclusions on BAT from the BREF LCP).
Numerous amendments are introduced, particularly when BAT conclusions are applied (modification of air emission limit values, improvement of general environmental performance, addition of ELVs in water, evolution of atmospheric and aqueous discharge monitoring, environmental management system, etc.).
Framework for the use of water unfit for human consumption in ICPEs for domestic uses
Environmental Code Articles R. 512-68 to R. 512-81: Common provisions for authorization, registration, and declaration (Book V, Title I, Chapter II, Section 4) AMENDED BY Decree No. 2025-239 of March 14, 2025, concerning the use of water unfit for human consumption for domestic purposes within classified installations AND PUBLICATION of the Decree of March 14, 2025, concerning the use of water unfit for human consumption for domestic purposes within classified installations for environmental protection [Official Journal of March 15, 2025]
Decree No. 2025-239 of March 14, 2025, and the simultaneous publication of the associated decree define the regulatory framework for the use of water unfit for human consumption in Classified Facilities for Environmental Protection (ICPEs) for domestic purposes.
In this regard, the use of such water, considered non-potable, is permitted in ICPEs provided that the quality of this water has no direct or indirect influence on the user's health, and that it is intended for the following limited domestic uses:
- laundry washing;
- indoor floor washing;
- flushing toilets;
- supplying decorative fountains not intended for human consumption;
- the cleaning of exterior surfaces;
- the watering of vegetable gardens;
- the watering of green spaces at building level.
Protection and Sustainable Management of Hedges
Environmental Code Articles L. 412-21 to L. 412-28: The protection and sustainable management of hedges (Book IV, Title I, Chapter II, Section 4) CREATED BY LAW No. 2025-268 of March 24, 2025, on orientation for food sovereignty and the renewal of generations in agriculture [Official Journal of March 25, 2025]
Law No. 2025-268 of March 24, 2025, regulates the protection of hedges, whose value is recognized for the ecosystem services they provide. Hedge destruction projects are subject to a single prior declaration or, in certain cases, a single authorization.
NOTE: For the purposes of this text, a hedge is a linear vegetation unit, other than crops, with a maximum width of twenty meters and comprising at least two of the following three elements: shrubs, trees, or other woody plants.
These provisions do not apply to tree-lined avenues and tree alignments, whether or not they border public roads, nor to hedges planted along buildings or in a square, which form the enclosure of a garden or park adjacent to a dwelling or which are located within such an enclosure.
SAFETY
New models for notices and certificates of individual employee health monitoring
Decree of October 16, 2017, establishing the model for fitness notices, unfitness notices, individual health monitoring certificates, and proposals for job accommodation measures AMENDED BY the Decree of March 3, 2025 [Official Journal of March 15, 2025]
To take into account the changes introduced by Law No. 2021-1018 of August 2, 2021, to strengthen occupational health prevention, known as the "Occupational Health Law," new models of notices and certificates for individual employee health monitoring have been published, with the following main new features:
- The integration of post-exposure, post-professional, and mid-career visits into the individual employee monitoring certificate (annex 1);
- The expansion of monitoring by occupational health nurses, corresponding practitioner doctors, and collaborating doctors;
- Clarifications on individual arrangements, adaptations, or transformations, or on working time arrangements.
Modification of the applicability criteria for covered car parks (PS type) to fire and panic safety regulations in Public Access Buildings (ERP)
Order of June 25, 1980, approving the general provisions of the fire and panic safety regulations in Public Access Buildings (ERP), MODIFIED BY the Order of March 18, 2025 [Official Journal of March 26, 2025]
To clarify the scope of application of the fire and panic safety regulations in Public Access Buildings (ERP) to covered car parks (PS type), the Order of March 18, 2025, modifies their applicability criteria.
Covered car parks capable of accommodating more than ten motor vehicles are still concerned, and the maximum authorized laden weight of each vehicle admitted to these car parks must not exceed 3.5 tonnes (unchanged). However, the following are now excluded from the scope of this Order:
- covered car parks exclusively linked to a residential building and having, at most, ten spaces open to non-residents of these buildings. Spaces in these car parks made available to non-residents of these buildings for periods greater than or equal to thirty consecutive days are not included in the count for the ten-space threshold.
- covered car parks exclusively linked to a professional building whose spaces are reserved for users of these buildings, as well as those with spaces open to non-users of these buildings for periods exclusively greater than or equal to thirty consecutive days.
Previously, covered car parks exclusively linked to a residential building and a building falling under the labor code were excluded from the scope of this Order.