Environmental Assessments and Authorizations: SEA - EIA - IPPC Permit

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Operational guidelines for the Single Environmental Permit

 
 
  1. Application submission
  2. Preliminary administrative check
  3. Check of the documentation  adequacy and completeness; request and acquisition of additional information for admissibility
  4. Start of the procedure, public consultation and decisions gathering
  5. Request and acquisition of additional information, new public notice, new public consultation
  6. Call of the inter-departmental conference for issuing the single environmental permit
  7. Evaluation, CTVA opinion, EIA provision scheme
  8. EIA Decision adoption
  9. Single Environmental Permit issuing

Purpose

The Single Environmental Permit, regulated by Article 27 of Legislative Decree 152/2006, has the purpose of unifying in a single decision the EIA decision with the issuing of any other authorization, agreement, opinion, concert, permission or environmental assent, required by current legislation for the construction and operation of a project. In particular, within the Single Environmental Permit the following environmental authorizations may be requested:

  • IPPC permit pursuant to Title IIIa of Part II of Legislative Decree 152/2006;
  • Authorization of discharges to subsoil and groundwater pursuant to Article 104 of Legislative Decree 152/2006;
  • Authorization for the immersion at sea of materials from excavation activities and for the laying of submarine cables and pipelines pursuant to Article 109 of Legislative Decree 152/2006;
  • Landscape permit pursuant to Article 146 of the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape referred to in Legislative Decree  42 of 22 January 2004;
  • Cultural heritage permit pursuant to Article 21 of the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape referred to in Legislative Decree  42 of 22 January 2004;
  • Authorization concerning the hydrogeological restriction according to the Royal Decree 3267  of 30 December 1923, and the Decree of the President of the Republic 616 of 24 July 1977;
  • No feasibility assessment referred to in Article 17, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree 105 of 26 June 2015;
  • Anti-seismic authorization pursuant to article 94 of the Presidential Decree 380 of 6 June 2001.

When submitting the application, the developer has the right to request additional environmental authorizations compulsory for the realization and operation of a project.

Scope and Competent Authority

The Single Environmental Permit can be requested for all projects subject to an EIA procedure under State jurisdiction.

At State level, the competent authority is the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Directorate - General for Sustainable Growth and Quality of Development.

The Technical Committee of Environmental Impact Assessment - SEA and EIA (TCEA) carries out the technical evaluation aimed at the expression of the opinion on which basis the EIA decision will be issued, after having acquired the opinion of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.

Procedure phases

1. Application submission

The developer submits to DGEAA the application for the release of the Single Environmental Permit using the form available in the "Technical specifications and forms" section of the SEA-EIA Portal.

The following documentation, in digital format, to be attached to the application, shall be prepared according to the technical specifications named “Specifiche tecniche per la predisposizione e la trasmissione della documentazione in formato digitale per le procedure di VAS e VIA ai sensi del D.Lgs.152/2006 e s.m.i.”, available only in Italian at the section "Technical specifications and forms" of the SEA-EIA Portal:

  • technical economic feasibility project (or any other different level of planning);
  • documentation and design work required by sector regulations allowing the completion of the technical and administrative evaluation including, for IPPC permit request, the information provided under paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of article 29b of Legislative Decree 152/2006;
  • environmental impact study including, for IPPC permit request, the information provided for under paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of article 29b of Legislative Decree 152/2006;
  • non-technical summary of the environmental impact study;
  • information on possible transboundary impacts of the project;
  • public notice to be published on the SEA-EIA Portal using the form named “Avviso al pubblico - Provvedimento unico in materia ambientale (art.27 D.Lgs.152/2006)”, available only in Italian in the section "Technical specifications and forms" of the SEA-EIA Portal. The public notice also includes the list of the environmental titles requested along with the EIA decision;
  • substitute declaration of notary act attesting the value of the works to be carried out and the amount of the contribution paid in accordance with article 33 of Legislative Decree 152/2006;
  • copy of the payment receipt of the fees to be paid by the developers;
  • results carried out by public debate, if any, according to article 22 of Legislative Decree 50/2016;
  • health impact assessment, if applicable;
  • use plan of the excavated earth and rocks, if applicable.  

2. Preliminary administrative check

DGEAA acquires the documentation sent by the developer and assigns the procedure to an official in charge, who performs the preliminary administrative check on the application and on the attached documentation, including the copy of the payment receipt of the fees to be paid by the developers; the official in charge also evaluates if a transboundary  consultation needs to be started.

At the same time, the conformity of the documentation in digital format to the technical specifications is checked; this is a prerequisite for the publication of the documentation on SEA-EIA Portal.

The documentation is published on the SEA-EIA Portal and an official communication is sent via certified mail to all the Administrations and Bodies, competent on environmental matters, potentially involved. When submitting the application the developer has the right to indicate which documents or part of them are not to be published for industrial and/or commercial secrecy reasons, in order to guarantee confidentiality.

The DGEAA, having verified the developer’s explanations, reasonably accepts or rejects the request, weighing the interest in confidentiality with the public interest in access to information.

All the steps as described above have to be completed within 15 days from the application submission. 

3. Check of the documentation  adequacy and completeness; request and acquisition of additional information for admissibility

Within 30 days from the date of publication of the documentation on the SEA-EIA Portal, the Competent Authority and the Administrations and Bodies potentially involved verify, within their respective competences, the adequacy and completeness of the documentation submitted for issuing respectively the EIA decision and the environmental titles.

Where necessary, the above-mentioned Administrations may require additional information through the DGEAA; the developer must peremptorily submit the additional documentation within 30 days from the request.

4. Start of the procedure, public consultation and decisions gathering

The DGEAA publishes the public notice prepared by the developer on its own website (section “Notices to the public - EIA”). At the same time, the DGEAA communicates the public notice publication by a certified mail sent to all the Administrations and Bodies potentially involved such as Basin District Authorities, Bodies responsible for protected areas, Regions, Provinces, Metropolitan Areas, Municipalities, Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism as a concerting administration. 

Moreover, DGEAA sends the same communication also to the developer and to the TCEA for the start of the technical assessment.

The potentially involved municipalities, who received the certified mail by the DGEAA about the start of the technical assessment, are required to provide information on the publication of the documentation on the SEA-EIA Portal in their own online municipal notice board.

The publication date of the public notice in the SEA-EIA Portal represents the official start of the procedure as regards the starting terms of all the subsequent phases and for the final reasoned determination of the inter-departmental conference, that constitutes the Single Environmental Permit. The terms are peremptory pursuant to and for the purposes of Law 241/1990.

No later than 60 days from the publication date of the public notice, anyone interested may submit comments to the DGEAA, as specified in the SEA-EIA Portal (Procedures/Submit Comments). Comments may concern the EIA, the appropriate assessment, where necessary, and the IPPC, if requested by the developer in the application submission phase.

Within the same term, DGEAA acquires electronically the decisions of Administrations and Bodies potentially interested that received the communication about the start of the technical assessment.

Throughout the public consultation phase, the home page of the SEA-EIA Portal shows the ongoing procedures with some general information, projects location, downloadable non-technical summary and the indication of the deadline for submitting comments.

After this deadline, the administrative information, the technical documentation, the comments and opinions received, are accessible through the "Procedures" or "Research" sections of the Portal.

5. Request and acquisition of additional information, new public notice, new public consultation

Following the conclusion of the public consultation, the procedure includes three phases that may take place; all these phases are possible with respect to the ordinary procedure:

  • Request and acquisition of additional information. Within 30 days following the conclusion of the public consultation, upon the proposal of the TCEA, the DGEAA may request additions to the documentation submitted by the developer. The request for changes and/or additions to the documentation may be made only once during the entire procedure. The developer must send the additional information within 30 days from the date of the request sent by the DGEAA. If the developer does not submit the additional documentation within the deadline established in the DGEEA request, the DGEAA proceeds to archive it.
  • Suspension. With adequate reasons, the developer may ask DGEAA to suspend the deadline for submitting additions for a period not exceeding 180 days. The suspension may be requested and granted only once during the entire procedure. If the developer does not transmit the additional documentation within the deadline established in the DGEAA request, the DGEAA proceeds to archive it.
  • New public notice and new public consultation. If DGEAA considers, with adequate reasons, modifications or additions to the documentation to be substantial and relevant to the public, within 15 days from receiving the additional documentation, the DGEAA requests the developer to prepare a new public notice. The developer must send the new public notice within 15 days from the received date of the communication. The DGEAA publishes the notice on the SEA-EIA Portal; at the same time, DGEAA communicates, by a certified mail sent to all the Administrations and Bodies potentially interested the publishing of the additional documentation and the launching of a new public consultation. The potentially interested municipalities, who received the certified mail by the DGEAA, are required to provide information on the publication of the documentation on the SEA-EIA Portal in their own online municipal notice board. This new public consultation phase for acquiring comments and opinions takes 30 days and refers only to the changes and/or additions made to the documentation.

6.Call of the inter-departmental conference for issuing the single environmental permit

Within 10 days of the public consultation deadline or of receiving the additions, DGEAA calls the inter-departmental conference whose participants are the developer, all the competent Administrations or Bodies still potentially interested in issuing the EIA decision and the environmental titles.

7. Assessment, TCEA opinion, EIA decision scheme

Parallel to the inter-departmental conference, the TCEA carries out the technical assessment to assess if the project has potential significant environmental impacts based on the documentation submitted by the developer throughout the procedure, including any additions provided by the developer and taking into account the comments and opinions received in the public consultation phase.

Within 60 days of the public consultation deadline, TCEA opinion has to be approved in Plenary session and forwarded to the DGEEA that ensures the preparation of the EIA decision scheme to be signed by the Minister of Ecological Transition for subsequent adoption.

8. EIA decision adoption

Within 30 days from the acquisition of the EIA decision scheme, the Minister of Ecological Transition adopts the EIA decision, taking into consideration the opinion expressed by Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.

After this deadline, at the request of the developer or of the interested Ministers, the EIA decision adoption is left to the resolution of the Council of Ministers that expresses itself within the next 30 days. During this phase, the inter-departmental conference timeline is suspended. 

9. Single Environmental Permit issuing

Within 210 days from the first convocation, the inter-departmental conference ends and the Competent Authority releases the final reasoned determination, which constitutes the Single Environmental Permit, comprising the EIA decision and the list of all the environmental titles required by the developer.