
Article 1 
For the purposes of Article 9(6) of Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances the Commission hereby adopts the harmonised criteria given in the Annexe to this Decision.
Article 2 
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 26 June 1998.
For the Commission
Ritt BJERREGAARD
Member of the Commission
ANNEX
A dispensation according to Article 9(6) may be granted if at least one of the following generic criteria is fulfilled:

1. 
Substances in solid form, such that, under both normal conditions and any abnormal conditions which can reasonably be foreseen, a release, of matter or of energy, which could create a major-accident hazard, is not possible.

2. 
Substances packaged or contained in such a fashion and in such quantities that the maximum release possible under any circumstances cannot create a major-accident hazard.

3. 
Substances present in such quantities and at such distances from other dangerous substances (at the establishment or elsewhere) that they can neither create a major-accident hazard by themselves nor initiate a major accident involving other dangerous substances.

4. 
Substances which are defined as dangerous substances by virtue of their generic classification in Annex I, Part 2 to Directive 96/82/EC, but which cannot create a major-accident hazard, and for which therefore the generic classification is inappropriate for this purpose.
