Authorization and eia of industrial installations : A legal comparison of france, germany, and switzerland

Abstract

According to Article 7, second sentence 2 2 In the course of the modification of the EIA Directive by Council Directive 97/11 EEC, on 3 March 1997, Article 7 was reworded and the former sentence 2 was removed. of the EU EIA Directive 85/337 EEC transfrontier cooperation must comply with the principles of “reciprocity and equivalence.” This presupposes an in-depth knowledge (both procedural and substantive) of the law on the authorization of industrial installations and the role of EIA in this context. The study reported here shows that within the framework of transfrontier environmental operations, procedural law is of major importance; thus, it makes a number of proposals for corresponding regulations. In the field of substantive law the central problems—both nationally and in terms of international harmonization—lie in the field of air pollution, more specifically, “immissions.” 3 3 Brown, S., Cupei, J., and Lötz, W. Environmental Policy, 1991, Manual of International Legal and Administrative Terminology, Editor: International Institute for Legal and Aministrative Terminology, Carl Heymanns Verlag. “ Immission” = the transfer of pollutants from the atmosphere to a “receptor,” e.g., pollutants retained by the lungs. It does not have the same meaning as ground level concentration, but is the opposite in meaning to emission. The extensive lack of air quality standards leaves a great many cases to be treated on their merits. Except for standards for ubiquitous substances such as SO 2, NO x, dust, etc., competent authorities are left to their own resources to make decisions. Hence, at present there seems to be no suitable basis for new international agreements. The provision of further abstract obligations, guidelines, or questions to be pursued will not lead to corresponding or equivalent decisions, which would help avoid distortions in competition. On the emission side, the situation is notably less problematic and has given rise only to a few proposals.