Danish regulations

Inspections allow the authorities to assess whether industrial companies and livestock farms exceed the acceptable levels of polluting, i.e. whether terms stated in the permit, as well as legally binding law, are abided by.

The inspections are governed by a variety of rules and guidelines. Inspections are covered by Chapter 9 of the Danish Environmental Protection Act (Bekendtgørelse af lov om miljøbeskyttelse) and by Chapter 5 of the Danish Livestock Farming Act, chapter 5 (Bekendtgørelse af lov om husdyrbrug og anvendelse af gødning m.v.). 

The legislation is implemented through the proclamation of statutory orders, such as, the statutory order on environmental inspections (Bekendtgørelse om miljøtilsyn). Parts of the provisions of the in Industrial Emissions Directive and parts of the provisions in Directive on public access to environmental information is transposed in the statutory order.

The statutory order, defines the frequency of inspections for industrial companies and livestock farms, as well as, provides details on the rules for public access to information from inspections. The statutory order is accessible in Danish on Retsinformation.

Guidelines on environmental inspection

The Environmental Protection Agency has produced guidelines for the environmental authorities, detailing how inspections and enforcements can be practiced. These are available in Danish on the Danish Environmental Protection Agency website.

Who is the supervising authority?

The municipalities are the supervisory authority for the majority of industrial companies and all livestock farms. The Environmental Protection Agency are the supervising authority for industrial companies with the highest potential to cause pollution.

Annual inspections and reporting

On an annual basis, the authorities must submit and publish information on their inspections and permits. Public access is available at Digital MiljøAdministration (DMA).