Adapting the Directive SEVESO III in the Slovak Enterprises and Identifying Problem Areas during the Years 2013 – 2017

The major industrial accidents threatening the citizens develop especially in the largest strategic chemical companies in the whole EU. The rise of such an event affects not only the people but also the environment and causes big financial losses and very often deteriorates the company´s reputation. The article reflects the changes in the area of preventing major industrial accidents during last 5 years in dependence how they are perceived by the companies. The basic threshold was the year 2013 when the new directive SEVESO III was adopted in the EU and subsequently the member states had to adapt it in their legal environment. A research was carried among the SEVESO establishments in Slovakia and the results are published in this article. In spite of the alteration of the law it is possible to identify several changes which are to be done also in the next period. The article shows the results from the statistical research, the conclusions from meetings with the SEVESO establishments in Slovakia and consultations with the competent authority – the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic. The results revealed a whole range of problems which were implemented in the law already in 2015. In spite of this fact some problems persist and it is necessary to solve them in the near future. Based on the meeting with experts from other EU countries and on the comparison of the results we can say that similar problems are found also in other member states