EU members attempt to cut costs of environmental laws

The moves by national governments to ease the red tape associated with the rules are signs that calls by industry associations for less, rather than more, are not going unheeded. The Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the European Union (CIAA) has consistently said environmental and anti-pollution rules would harm the competitiveness of its members.

In a public memo, the Commission says other members can follow the examples other states have used to reduce the expense and time companies spend in compliance with industrial regulations.

For example Italy has set up a “one-stop-shop” system in a government effort to simplify relations between public administrations and enterprises. The single system aims at giving entrepreneurs a single interlocutor for all procedures related to the opening, operation and closing of production facilities.

After submitting a single application, the entrepreneur obtains a single permit. From 1998 to date 5,274 such offices have been created in 65.1 per cent of Italy’s municipalities.

For individual enterprises, the number of procedures fell from 11 to 5, procedure completion time to one week from 16 weeks. Charges vary from € 1,150 to € 340.

“The benefits for public limited companies were a reduction of procedures from 21 to 12, time from 22 weeks to six, and charges from € 7,700 to € 3,516,” the Commission noted.

As part of their portfolio the one stop shops deal with environmental laws including the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) directive, waste water treatment and discharge, permits to discharge into air, waste treatment, and the collection of data on the emissions from installations for compilation into registers.

Meanwhile Germany is using a “Permit pilot”, a single contact point for permit-related questions at the Industrial Association of Schleswig Holstein and at the Ministry for Agriculture and the Environment.

In special cases, the permit pilots can be called upon to arbitrate in difficult situations during complex approval procedures. This provides a single focus for businesses and eases the administrative burden, the Commission stated.

Meanwhile the Netherlands and the UK have sought the simplification of the legal framework.

In the Netherlands’s there are currently 70 projects underway, such as simplification of waste regulation obligations, harmonising obligations at national and provincial level and producing a one-stop-shop for registration.

Over the last three years the policy has achieved a 10 per cent reduction in the law. The policy is expected to deliver its objectives of a 30 per cent reduction in administrative burdens by the end of 2007.

In the UK the Environment Agency’s approach to modern regulation aims to find the right balance that will drive environmental improvements and reward good performance. Changes to the Water Act are expect to save the holders of 23,000 low-risk abstraction licences about €1.4m a year in total.

The Netherlands is also attempting to reduce the number of permits required. Government is reducing about 25 different types of permit to one, covering up to three layers of government. The types of permit include IPPC permits to allow operation of, for example, chemicals manufacturing, oil refining and coal-fired power station, building permits and spatial planning permits that cover where different types of installation may be located.

The government also plans to produce a web-based application form. About 300,000 companies are already subject to general environmental rules, compared to 100,000 with individual permits.

Under the proposed changes, only 40,000 will still require an individual permit. Currently the costs of regulation for the 100,000 establishments is €680 million and for the 300,000 with general rules €202 million. Extending the scope of the general rules to cover 50,000 additional installations is estimated to lead to a saving of €329 million for businesses, the Commission stated.

Other methods for reducing red tape include replacing permit requirements by notification rules and other procedures. Sweden refers to the simplification of permit schemes by replacing permit requirements with notification for some activities.

Currently, the permit requirement applies to about 6,000 installations. The project proposes to replace the permit requirement by an obligation to notify for 1,350 of those installations.

The total cost reduction for the enterprises was estimated to be €10m. The businesses currently pay €64m for the permits. Government estimates the cost reduction for courts and other authorities at €3.2m.s

Accelerated permitting is another path some countries are following. In Germany substantial amendments were made to its permitting law through two acts on accelerating approval procedures in 1996.

These placed time limits on the application process and detailed elements required in that process. In Denmark, government is simplifying the IPPC information reporting requirements for companies.

About 6,500 businesses are subject to permit procedures. About 5,000 of these businesses are covered by the new simplified system while about 1,100 IPPC-companies will remain under more strict procedures.

The new system reduces the amount of information that businesses will have to submit to apply for a permit.

Flanders in Belgium has followed the tactic of integrating environmental reporting by introducing a single form and reporting schedule for the reporting of environmental data to the authorities.

Under the new scheme, companies have to submit their data by completing a single form and returning it to a central administrative focal point once a year. From 2006, it has also become possible to submit the data electronically via a single Internet form. A dedicated website has been created and the data are publicly accessible.

In the Walloon region of Belgium, government is using of information technology, one-stop-shops and communication between regional public authorities and companies with a view to collecting environmental data for reporting purposes.

All required questionnaires have been reduced to one single environmental survey integrating all pertinent environment-related requirements for 300 companies.

Meanwhile Austria has created a programme to simplify the fully paper-based administrative procedure to notify authorities of waste shipments within, into and out of the EU.

With the programme, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria have set up a system that allows notification to be done digitally.

In Spain the Hercules project is a new information system for the collection, treatment, storage and use of information related to hazardous waste, either paper or electronic documents, which incorporates the advanced electronic signature device.

Among the main benefits of the initiatives are the improved accessibility to all the subjects involved with the information system on hazardous waste, the reduced amount of paper documents and simplification of data recording.

In the UK a programme called OPRA aims to give incentives for improved environmental performance through a risk-based approach. OPRA allows plant operators to assess their own performance and see how they may be able to improve that performance to help ensure compliance with environmental legislation.

In Ireland, authorities have developed a methodology for assessing the environmental risk arising from operations carried out at licensed facilities on the basis of five criteria. Within each of the five criteria, a list of factors that contribute to the risk has been developed.

For each criterion, risk is assessed, and the scores are aggregated to arrive at an overall risk category for that facility.

The Internet features widely in other initiatives taken by the states to reduced administrative burden and costs. n Norway the aim of the initiative ‘regel hjelp’ (regulation help) is to provide greater accessibility and clarification of the legal framework.

The web site was launched for ten industries in 2005, and will include 50 industries by the end of 2007. The initiative is part of Altinn, which is the trade and industry’s gateway to public services.

In Ireland EnviroCentre is a free and regularly updated environmental information portal from Enterprise Ireland, designed specifically for Irish industry to enhance environmental awareness, with particular emphasis on small and medium sized enterprises.

The site contains a wide range of information on environmental regulation in Ireland, provides guidance for different sectors, and information on events.

In the UK ‘NetRegs’ has been developed as a free to use website which aims to help SMEs in the UK to understand the complex environmental regulations that can affect them.

Lastly, member states are using a programme called ‘EMAS easy’, to help local administrations deal with monitoring company compliance with environmental laws. A guidebook to promote the uptake of the bloc’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme has been issued for Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithaunia and Poland.

This 20-page publication provides a brief overview of environmental management concepts and tools, the economic benefits of environmental management systems, plus a step-by-step guide to implementing the directive and obtaining registration.