Submit measurement report on individual measurements of air pollutants at installations using organic solvents

If you operate a system in which volatile organic solvents are used, you must have the solvent emissions checked regularly by means of individual measurements under certain conditions.

If you are the operator of a system in which volatile organic solvents (VOC) are used, you must have the solvent emissions checked regularly by means of individual measurements under certain conditions.

You must have the measurements carried out by an accredited measuring institute or an expert.

You must immediately prepare a measurement report on the results of the measurements and, if the installation does not require a permit, keep this report for 5 years at the place of operation. You must submit the measurement report at the request of the responsible immission control authority. You must submit measurement reports on emission measurements in installations requiring a permit to the responsible immission control authority no later than 12 weeks after completion of the measurements.

In exceptional cases, you can dispense with individual measurements if your installation is already equipped with a continuous recording measuring system to monitor emissions.

In Hesse, the measurements must be carried out by a notified body. You can find these under:

The environmental departments of the regional councils are responsible.

Please contact the environmental department of the regional council responsible for you.

Complete measurement report with details of:

• Measurement planning
• measurement result
• Measurement methods used
• Operating conditions that are important for assessing the measurement results

• You are the operator of a plant in which volatile organic solvents (VOC) are used.
• You carry out one of the activities listed in Annex II of the Solvent Ordinance.
• Your solvent consumption is above the legal threshold.
• You have newly constructed or significantly modified your system.
• You have put your plant into operation.

The administrative service is a real act against which no legal remedy is possible.

• First check whether your system falls under the Solvent Ordinance. This is often the case if you operate a car paint shop, print shop or other coating facility. You will find a list of all affected facilities in Annex I of the 31st Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchV).
• Then check whether the activities carried out at your facility are also covered by the Solvents Ordinance. You will find a list of the activities concerned in Annex II of the 31st BImSchV.
• If your facility and the activities carried out are covered, check whether the consumption of the organic solvents you use exceeds the legal threshold values.
• If the solvent consumption is above the threshold value, you must have the solvent emissions checked regularly by means of individual measurements.
• You must have the measurements carried out by an accredited measuring institute or an expert. You can find out which measuring institute is accredited for the required measurement in the ReSyMeSa online tool.
• To do this, you contact a measuring institute or an expert, provide the necessary information for the measurement and arrange a measurement date.
• On the measurement date, the measuring institute or expert determines the emission values and compares them with the legally prescribed emission values for your system.
• You must immediately draw up a measurement report on the measurement results or have one drawn up and keep it on site for 5 years.
• Upon request, you must submit the measurement report to the immission control authority responsible for you.

If you have newly installed or significantly modified your system, you must have the first measurement carried out within 3 to 6 months of commissioning. Subsequently, the measurement must be carried out every 3 years.

If your installation requires a permit, you must submit the measurement report to your local immission control authority no later than 12 weeks after the measurements have been completed.

There is no statutory processing time.

In Hesse, fees for the official inspection of measurement reports are charged on a time basis.

Fee free of charge

You are committing an administrative offense if you:

• do not have the measurements determined, do not have them determined correctly or do not have them determined in good time.
• do not prepare the measurement report or do not have it prepared correctly, completely or on time