Reference documents

The table below presents, in alphabetical order, the list of reference documents that have been drawn (or are planned to be drawn) as part of the exchange of information carried out in the framework of Article 13(1) of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED). The table contains the Best Available Techniques (BAT) reference documents, the so-called BREFs (as well as a few other reference documents) that have been adopted under both the IPPC Directive and the IED. For BREFs adopted under the IED, the table shows in the column "Adopted document" also the BAT conclusions adopted according to IED Article 13(5). The "BAT conclusions" is a document containing the parts of a BAT reference document laying down the conclusions on best available techniques. According to Article 14(3) of the IED, BAT conclusions shall be the reference for setting the permit conditions to installations covered by the Directive.

For each BREF in the table below, the following information can be found:

• the latest reference document itself. In short, each document generally gives information on a specific industrial/agricultural sector in the EU, on the techniques and processes used in this sector, current emission and consumption levels, techniques to consider in the determination of the best available techniques (BAT) and emerging techniques
• the list of references (background material) quoted in the reference document
• links to webpages containing translations of the BREFs into languages other than English
• links to webpages containing relevant legislation/standards
• additional technical information.

Translations of complete reference documents and/or Executive Summaries are available here.

(*) Formal draft of (B)REFs have no legal value. They only reflect work in progress and are available for information only to those interested in the exchange of information.

	BREF or REF, indicates that a document has been published by the European Commission under the IED (post 2010). Under adopted document both the BREF and the related BAT conclusions can be found.
	FD, indicates that the document has been sent to the IED Article 13 Forum for its opinion.
	D1/D2/D3, indicates the latest draft which is available.
	Indicates that work has started but a draft is not yet available.
	Indicates work is planned to commence in the year shown but has not yet started.
	BREF or REF, indicates that a document has been formally adopted by the European Commission under the IPPC Directive.
	Indicates that work has not yet started.

• BREF or ‘BAT reference document’ means a document, resulting from the exchange of information organised pursuant to Article 13, drawn up for defined activities and describing, in particular, applied techniques, present emissions and consumption levels, techniques considered for the determination of best available techniques as well as BAT conclusions and any emerging techniques, giving special consideration to the criteria listed in Annex III to Directive 2010/75/EU. A similar definition was applicable under IPPC. 
• REF or ‘reference document’ or ‘reference report" means a document, which is not a BREF, used as the main reference for a specific horizontal task or topic in the Sevilla process.
• BATC or ‘BAT conclusions'' means a document containing the parts of a BAT reference document laying down the conclusions on best available techniques, their description, information to assess their applicability, the emission levels associated with the best available techniques, associated monitoring, associated consumption levels and, where appropriate, relevant site remediation measures.
• Under the Commission Decision of 12 December 2011 on the Re-use of Commission Documents (2011/833/EU), the BREF documents are subject to free re-use, except for parts covered by any third-party rights which may be present in the documents (such as images, tables, data, written material, or similar, the rights to which need to be acquired separately from their respective rights-holders for further use). The European Commission is not liable for any consequence stemming from the re-use of these documents. Any re-use is subject to the acknowledgement of the source and non-distortion of the original meaning or message.