Industrial Emissions Act (2013)

The Act regulates industrial emissions in Estonia. Its purpose is to achieve a high level of protection of the environment taken as a whole by minimizing emissions into air, water and soil and the generation of waste in order to prevent adverse environmental impacts. The Act determines the industrial activities of high environmental hazard, provides the requirements for operation therein and liability for failure to comply with the requirements, and the organisation of state supervision. The Act applies to industrial activities listed in § 19 of this Act (including industries involving food, livestock, minerals, etc.); large combustion plants in accordance with the provisions of § 64 of this Act; waste incineration plants and waste co-incineration plants in accordance with § 85 of this Act; installations using organic solvents and activities defined in § 113 of this Act; and installations producing titanium dioxide. The Act does not apply to research activities, development activities or the testing of new products and processes if the scale of such activities is so small as to not impact the environment to a significant extent.