Netherlands Emission Guidelines for Air
Emissions that are not regulated by the general binding rules of the Activities Decree are subject to permits. The emission limits for most substances emitted to air by industrial sources are set by the Netherlands Emission Guidelines for Air (NeR).
The NeR is a national guideline, aimed at harmonising the environmental permits in the Netherlands with respect to reducing of emissions to the air. The system of the NeR was derived from the German TA Luft in the 1990s.
The NeR is implemented in the Activity Degree since 1 January 2016. The Activity Degree has legally binding status.
Scope
The NeR does not have a legally binding status. In practice, however, it functions as an important guideline for the competent authorities during the permitting process. The content of the NeR is monitored by representatives of the competent authorities (provinces, municipalities and the national government) and the representative bodies for trade and industry.
Application
General concentration standards are given for each substance or class of substances. In most cases, a threshold value is given above which implementation of measures should be considered. This threshold value is called the mass flow limit. The concentrations are upper limits for the concentration in the waste gas flow of a specific relevant source.
As well as the general concentration standards, the NeR also contains special provisions for specific activities and branches of industry. In the NeR, these are called special regulations.
Emission limits
The emission limits for each substance or class of substances can be found in the database. By entering the (first part of) the name or CAS number of the substance in the bar below, the classification of the substance and its mass flow limit and emission standard are shown.
NeR in English (pdf)
The November 2007 version of the NeR (zip, 6.7 MB) is available in English. A 2012 version of NeR ยง3.7 (monitoring) (pdf, 217 kB) is also available. There have been other updates of the NeR. These versions of the NeR are only available in Dutch.