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Last changed: 11/05/12
Ordinances for the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) and the Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control (TA-Luft) require that mercury emissions be monitored continuously. This includes e. g. installations that are regulated by the 17th Federal Immission Control Ordinance (17th BImSchV), which stipulates that such installations must be equipped with measuring devices tested for suitability.
It has been known for some time that problems have occurred in some of the installed measuring devices in respect of its reliability and measuring accuracy.
To find solutions to the problems which have occurred, the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA) initiated an expert talk on “Continuous Monitoring of Mercury”. The expert talk was attended by manufacturers of the measuring devices, enforcement authorities and measuring institutes.
A key cause for possible defects in the measuring systems or inaccurate measurements is that necessary servicing and maintenance are sometimes not adequately carried out. The manufacturers were therefore requested to prepare maintenance manuals which explain exactly the necessary maintenance work that operators must have done. The quality assurance measures during operation can thus be guaranteed.
An announcement by the Federal Environment Agency made on 12 August 2008 (Federal Gazette No. 133, p. 3247) referred to the use of maintenance manuals. It went on to provide a list of the measuring devices for which manufacturers are able to provide maintenance manuals.