This Best Technique has to be Available, technically, economically and marketwise. For it to be technically available it has to be developed on a scale which allows implementation in the relevant industrial sector. Marketwise, it is available even if it is only produced outside the European Union, as long as it is “accessible”. Economically, there are two tests, one of proportionality and one of viability. In the proportionality test the costs are compared only to the environmental benefits, based on the thinking that it becomes ridiculous if only a marginal environmental benefit is gained at an enormous extra cost. But if the environmental benefit is high, the cost will simply have to be borne. This viability test does not relate to any specific business entity but to the industrial sector (as a whole). This means that a treatment plant will be forced to stop its business even if there is no way it can afford the required investment, as long as it is affordable in the industrial sector. It is not expected that any of the large oil companies will ever argue that there is not enough money in the oil sector.


The Directive is only binding on the Member States, but these states are then obliged to introduce a permit system that is binding on the domestic companies or individuals, including a requirement to use BAT.