The concept of integrated permitting was incorporated into Polish administrative practice as part of the transposition of European Union environmental law. Specifically, it is part of Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution and prevention control, commonly known as the IPPC Directive.
The Environmental Protection Law (EPL), which was enacted on April 27, 2001 and based on Council Directive 96/61/EC, introduced a system of integrated permits. The EPL made it obligatory from January 1, 2002 to obtain an integrated permit for operating an IPPC type of installation.
The EPL defined the basic principles of the IPPC system and spelled out general requirements on the content of integrated permit applications and permits, monitoring and public consultations, access to information, and more.
The issuance of an integrated permit is an administrative decision. The permit gives a facility a special operating license with set conditions that take into consideration all components of the environment. The technical requirements are based on best available techniques (BAT). The definition of “best available techniques” is based on the common meaning of the words as well as a legal description in the EPL. BATs are applied with the goal of preventing pollution through:
- the use of environmentally friendly raw materials;
- production of environmentally friendly products;
- effective use of resources (water, energy and raw materials); and
- minimising waste through recycling and finding secondary uses.
