TRANSCRIPTION OF SEVESO II DIRECTIVE INTO SLOVENE LEGISLATION

Abstract

Slovenia is in the process of approximation to EU. In harmonizing its environmental legislation to that of EU, the issue of transposing SEVESO II Directive (96/82/EC) has emerged. The question whether it is necessary to make certain modification in the Directive before its adoption has been raised. This paper presents the result of a study performed by the »Jožef Stefan« Institute in 2000. The study explored the sources of potential divergences between the philosophy prevailing in Slovenia and the context of the SEVESO II Directive. The main focus was on the analysis of the history and development of Annex I to the Directive and its contents: a list of dangerous substances and qualifying quantities for the application of Articles 6, 7 and 9 of the Directive, which defines the obligation to compile safety reports and emergency plans. We explored the relevance of properties of the listed substances as sources of hazards, the importance of site and demographic information in evaluating the migration and/or accumulation of released pollutants, exposure as a key factor for human health damage, and environmental valuation in the context of environmental policy and land use. A sensitivity analysis was also performed for the purpose of assessing the effect of changing qualifying quantities for the application of Articles 6, 7 and 9 of the Directive on the number of installations in Slovenia to which the Directive applies. Based on the results of the study, it was proposed that the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief adopt the SEVESO II Directive in its original form, i.e. without any modifications. Parallelly, we recommended that efforts for building a safety culture in Slovenian industry be intensified.