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Environmental information systems
Welcome to eMARS
The Major Accidents Reporting System (eMARS) is a database mandated by the EU Seveso Directive. Its purpose is to facilitate exchange of lessons learned from accidents and near misses involving dangerous substances in order to improve chemical accident prevention and mitigation of potential consequences
Access Data and Information
This page contains information reported by countries on major accidents and near-misses that occurred in their territory. Only accident reports that have been approved for publication both by the National Authority and the EU are available for viewing.
Data
View and download data related to industrial accidents: major accidents reporting
Statistics
Explore key trends and statistics
History
The Major Accident Report System (MARS) was first established by the EU Seveso Directive in 1982. The requirements for sharing information on major accidents remained in place with subsequent Seveso Directives. The System was renamed eMARS after going online. The content of the reporting that is currently in place was defined in the Commission Decision 2009/10/EC. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) was responsible for maintaining this database until the end of 2025. The responsibility was transferred to the European Environment Agency by the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1979, with effect from 1 January 2026. Historical data was transferred to the EEA and is maintained together with the newly reported information.
Sources
Reports of chemical accidents and near misses are submitted to the European Environment Agency according to the format specified by the European Commission. The reports are entered by the official reporting authority of the country in which the event occurred. It is mandatory for the EU Member States to report major accidents when a Seveso establishment is involved, and the event meets the criteria defined in the Seveso Directive. Non-EU OECD countries and UNECE countries may report incidents in their countries on a voluntary basis, using the same format and reporting system.
For Seveso Competent Authorities
Are you from a Seveso Competent Authority? Information about data exchange is available on the About page.
Other accident information
Other sites where accident data is available:
The ARIA database (in French & in English)
ZEMA (in German)
Tukes VARO registry of chemical accidents in Finland (in Finnish)
The Japanese Failure Knowledge Database (in Japanese & English)
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (in English)