Germany Implements Amendment to Ordinance on Limiting Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds

Daniel Rinkert, Responsible rapporteur:

Today, the Bundestag is concluding the deliberations on the Ordinance on Limiting Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (31st BImSchV), which implements two implementing decisions of the EU Commission. Permitted emission values ​​for various production processes are adjusted to the state of the art at regular intervals in order to protect the population from health hazards.

“With the amendment to the 31st Federal Immission Control Ordinance passed today, we are strengthening the precautionary principle. Stricter specifications for emissions of volatile organic compounds when using organic solvents will apply in future.
These occur in particular when painting wood and in the production of cooking oil.

The SPD parliamentary group has campaigned in the parliamentary process for changes to the draft regulation so that the conversion of production processes to less polluting processes does not lead to plant closures.
In a two-stage model for edible oil production, we are extending the period for transforming production by another year and creating more legal certainty when applying the new rules.
In addition, the Federal Environment Ministry will present an evaluation by the end of 2024 as to whether and how the limit value for n-hexane can be met by oil mill operators.

We expect a significant reduction in emissions. This is good because these compounds also contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone and can have various harmful effects on human health. With the ordinance, we are also implementing a goal of the coalition agreement to further reduce air pollution in order to protect human health and the environment in the long term.