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MAHB assists Member States and other Commission services in the successful implementation of EU policy on the control of major hazards and the prevention and mitigation of major accidents - Seveso Inspections
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Website of the Seveso II User Group. Access is restricted to the CCA Members and invited Observers
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Chemical Accidents (Seveso II) - Implementation
Administrative co-operation
A coherent implementation and consistent application of the provisions of the Seveso II Directive throughout the Community requires close co-operation among the competent authorities of all Member States and the European Commission. The forum for such an administrative co-operation is the so-called Committee of Competent Authorities (CCA) which consists of representatives of the Member States and the Commission services. The work of the CCA is based upon consensus. It discusses all issues concerning the implementation of the Seveso II Directive and gives guidance as to its practical application.
Guidance documents
In order to assist Member States with the interpretation of certain provisions of the Seveso II Directive, the Commission in co-operation with Member States has elaborated the following guidance documents that are available from the Major-Accident Hazards Bureau (MAHB):
New Guidance Documents:
Both documents were adopted by the Commission on 7 June 2007
(Decision C(2007)2371) and are available in English, French
and German on the following Webpages: http://sta.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
http://ipsc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.php/Information-material/503/0/
Lessons Learnt Bulletin
The Major Accident Hazard Bureau publishes, as from 2012, three-monthly bulletins including lessons learned from major accidents reported in eMARS and other sources.
The bulletins contain
- a description of the accidents that have been selected on the basis of a common topic;
- background information on the chosen topic, e.g., a description of the physical properties of the dangerous substance involved or the circumstances that led to the accidents. For example, a contractor/subcontractor issue or ad-hoc modification in the technical process;
- Recommendations based on the lessons learned with an emphasis on the main categories of lessons learned that may be specifically relevant to the topic.
First issue: lessons learned from accidents involving hydrogen
Second issue: lessons learned from accidents involving contractors
Further Guidance:
- Guidelines on a Major Accident Prevention Policy and Safety Management System
- Explanations and Guidelines on harmonised criteria for dispensations
- General Guidance for the content of information to the public
- Guidance on Inspections
This guidance can be found here.
Furthermore, a series of answers to frequently asked questions (Q&A’s), which have also been agreed upon by the CCA, is published and regularly updated on the MAHB website.
The above guidance documents and Q&A’s have no legal status. However, they provide valuable guidance to industrial operators as well as to enforcement authorities, taking into account the fact that they represent the unanimous view of all Member States.
Major Accident reporting
The scope of the European Commission official online reporting system eMARS is facilitating the exchange of information on accidents and near misses occurred in Seveso establishments and promoting lessons learned among the EU Member States and other OECD countries as well as the general public.
The system contains events on chemical accidents and near misses reported to the Major Accident and Hazards Bureau (MAHB) by the competent National Authorities under the current and prior Seveso Directives since 1982.
The information of the reported event is entered into eMARS by the EU Member States and OECD Countries themselves. Reporting an event into eMARS is compulsory for EU Member States when a Seveso establishment is involved and the event satisfies one or more of the six criteria set out in the Seveso Directive. The reporting is done on a voluntary basis by those OECD Countries which are non EU Members.
To access the database, please go to: http://emars.jrc.itReporting on the implementation of Seveso II
Commission Report
Every three years, the Commission publishes a summary of the information provided by the Member States on the implementation of the directive. Member States provide the Commission with a three-yearly report for upper-tier establishments covered by Articles 6 and 9 in accordance with the procedure laid down in Council Directive 91/692/EEC (OJ No L 377 of 31 December 1991) of 23 December 1991 on the basis of a questionnaire.
Report 2006- 2008
The European Commission adopted on 9 August 2010 a report assessing the progress made with the implementation of the Seveso II Directive. The reportC(2010) 5422 final summarises the information provided by 27 Member States for the period 2006-2008.
The Report is available in all official languages:
Member States country reports
The full reports from the 27 Member States and Norway for the period 2006-2008 can be found here.
Previous Reports
Report 2003-2005
The full reports from the 25 Member States concerned for the period 2003-2005 can be found here:
Member State contributions 2001-2002(zip File).
Report 2000-2002
The previous report, published in 2004 and covering the period 2000-2002, and the 15 old EU Member States, is also available:
(pdf ~140Kb)
The full reports from Member States for the period 2000-2002:
Member State contributions (zip File).
Voluntary Report for the year 2003 for EU-10 and Bulgaria:
Questionnaire (pdf ~ 17Kb)
Contributions (zip file ~ 1Mb)
In the framework of the Seveso I Directive (82/501/EEC), previous reports had been drawn up to assess the progress made with the implementation of the directive. The first report about the implementation of the original Seveso Directive was published by the Commission in 1988 (COM (88) 261 final). The report related to the period 1997-1999 was published on 31 January 2002 (OJ C 028, 31/01/2002).
Questionnaire
According to Article 19.4 of the Seveso II Directive, Member States have to provide the Commission with a report every 3 years on the application of the directive on the basis of a questionnaire.
The questionnaire for the period 2012-2014, available in 22 languages, has been adopted by the Commission and notified to the Member States on 30 June 2011, Document C(2011)4598 final. The questionnaire is published below: