The amended proposal takes up the amendments which seek in particular to:
- clarify and further the principles of the Commission proposal;
- specify that the fugitive emission limit values may not be exceeded except where the operator can
demonstrate that it is technically and financially impossible to stay within those limits and that he is
using the best available technology;
- replace the transposition date fixed at 31 December 1999 by a date linked to the entry into force
of the Directive (the Commission provides for a transposition period of 18 months);
- extend in Annex I the vehicle refinishing definition to rail vehicles and vehicles of category O;
- raise, in Annex III(A), the threshold concerning the pharmaceuticals manufacturing sector from 50
tonnes per year to 100 tonnes per year and to specify explicitly that the fugitive emission limit does
not include solvents sold with the finished products in a closed container.
The Commission did not accept the amendments calling for removal of exemption from the obligation
to observe these limit values for Member States which have already drawn up national plans for the
reduction of these emissions.
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