Classified Installations for Environmental Protection (ICPE) - SEVESO Establishments

The tragedy that occurred in Seveso (Italy) on July 10, 1976, when a cloud containing dioxin escaped from a reactor at a chemical plant, had major environmental and health consequences (chemical skin burns, abnormal death rate due to cardiovascular problems, etc.).

This problem, which went beyond the authorities, prompted European states to adopt a common policy on the prevention of major industrial hazards: on June 24, 1982, European Directive 82/501/EEC, known as the "Seveso" Directive, was adopted. It requires states and companies to identify the risks associated with certain hazardous industrial activities and to take the necessary measures to deal with them.

The Seveso Directive has been amended on a number of occasions, and its scope gradually extended, notably following the accidents in Basel (1986), Enschede (2000) and Toulouse (2001). It was in this context that it was replaced by European Directive 96/82/EC of December 9, 1996, known as "Seveso 2".

Mainly to harmonize the content of the Seveso Directive with the GHS (Globally Harmonized System) and the ensuing European CLP (Classification, Labelling, Packaging) Regulation, a new version of the so-called "Seveso 3" Directive was adopted in July 2012 (European Directive No. 2012/18/EU) and came into force on 1 ^er June 2015.

At national level, the Seveso Directive has notably been transposed through the Environment Code and the Order of May 26, 2014 on the prevention of major accidents in classified facilities mentioned in Section 9, Chapter V, Title I ^er of Book V of the Environment Code. Thus, operators of classified facilities must identify the hazardous substances or preparations likely to be present in their establishment and, depending on their quantities, must define a major accident prevention policy, draw up a hazard study, have a safety management system (SGS) and an internal operation plan (POI).