Definition: Best available technique

Category: Environment

The most effective and advanced stage in the development of activities and their methods of operation which indicates the practical suitability of particular techniques for providing the basis for emission limit values and other permit conditions designed to prevent and, where that is not practicable, to reduce emissions and the impact on the environment as a whole:

(a) "techniques" includes both the technology used and the way in which the installation is designed, built, maintained, operated and decommissioned;

(b) "available techniques" means those developed on a scale which allows implementation in the relevant industrial sector, under economically and technically viable conditions, taking into consideration the costs and advantages, whether or not the techniques are used or produced inside the Member State in question, as long as they are reasonably accessible to the operator;

(c) "best" means most effective in achieving a high general level of protection of the environment as a whole (Directive 2010/75/EU)

The most effective and advanced stage in the development of activities and their methods of operation which indicate the practical suitability of particular techniques for providing in principle the basis for emission limit values designed to prevent and, where that is not practicable, generally reduce emissions and impact on the environment as a whole (Eurostat, The Environmental Goods and Services Sector). http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:334:0017:0119:EN:PDF Eurostat, The Environmental Goods and Services Sector (2009 Edition), Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 2009