Major accidents in chemical industry have occurred world-wide. In Europe, following the Seveso accident in 1976 prompted the adoption of legislation aimed at the prevention and control of such accidents.

In 1982, Council Directive 82/501/EEC on the major-accident hazards of certain industrial activities (OJ No L 230 of 5 August 1982) – so-called Seveso Directive – was adopted. In the light of severe accidents at the Union Carbide factory at Bhopal, India in 1984 where a leak of methyl isocyanate caused more than 2500 deaths and at the Sandoz warehouse in Basel, Switzerland in 1986 where fire-fighting water contaminated with mercury, organophosphate pesticides and other chemicals caused massive pollution of the Rhine and the death of half a million fish, the Seveso Directive was amended twice, in 1987 by Directive 87/216/EEC of 19 March 1987 (OJ No L 85 of 28 March 1987) and in 1988 by Directive 88/610/EEC of 24 November 1988 (OJ No L 336 of 7 December 1988). Both amendments aimed at broadening the scope of the Directive, in particular to include the storage of dangerous substances.

On 9 December 1996, Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major-accident hazards - so-called Seveso II Directive - was adopted. Member States had up to two years to bring into force the national laws, regulations and administrative provisions to comply with the Directive. From 3 February 1999, the obligations of the Directive have become mandatory for industry as well as the public authorities of the Member States responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the Directive.

The Seveso II Directive has fully replaced its predecessor, the original Seveso Directive. Important changes have been made and new concepts have been introduced into the Seveso II Directive. This includes a revision and extension of the scope, the introduction of new requirements relating to safety management systems, emergency planning and land-use planning and a reinforcement of the provisions on inspections to be carried out by Member States.