Best Available Techniques (BAT) in Finland

BAT in environmental protection law

The EU Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive (2008/1/EC) has been implemented in Finland as part of the national Environmental Protection Act. Directive (2010/75/EU) on industrial emissions (IED) needs to be implemented in Finnish national environmental legislation by the 7th of January, 2013.

BAT in environmental licenses

Many activities and industrial processes must be licensed under environmental law. One condition of such environmental licenses (permits) is that operators use BAT and best practices to prevent or reduce environmental impacts. These requirements are based on the IPPC Directive.

All the environmental impacts of activities must be examined in an integrated way. Discharges and emissions released into the air, water or the soil must be assessed simultaneously, together with other factors such as resource consumption, waste minimization, energy efficiency, noise and vibration, and accident prevention. When applying environmental permit operators have to assess how best available technique is applied in the proposed activity. 

Information exchange on BAT in Finland

The Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the development of the best available techniques in Finland. SYKE acts as the National Focal Point for BAT information exchange between environmental authorities and industry.

BAT information exchange in Finland is carried out by national technical working groups (BAT working groups). Finnish BAT working groups are composed of representatives from industry and permit authorities and inspectors, with the group chair acting as the Finnish member in the corresponding Technical Working Group (TWG) at EU level information exchange. National BAT Working Groups comment on draft BREFs prepared by the European IPPC Bureau (EIPPCB) and gather other relevant background information. Results of Finnish BAT information exchange for different industrial sectors are published as Finnish BAT technology reports and many of them have been sent for background information for BREF's preparation. 

For more information

Project Manager Timo Jouttijärvi, Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, firstname.lastname@ymparisto.fi, tel. +358 40 822 7895