SWEDISH SYSTEM OF INTEGRATED PERMITTING - WHETHER IT ENHANCES

COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEABILITY

 

LEIF SVERNDAL

 

Legal Adviser, Supervision Department, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency

 

 

The Swedish Environment Protection Act is applicable to environmentally hazardous activity.  This refers to activities that are operated on a property or a permanent plant or installation.

In the Act the concept environmentally hazardous activity is defined as:

·         discharge of waste water from land, buildings or installations into a watercourse, lake or other water area;

·         use of land, buildings or installations in a manner that may otherwise lead to pollution of land, of a watercourse, lake or other water area, or ground water;

·         use of land, buildings or installations in a manner that may lead to disturbance to the surrounding environment owing to air pollution, noise, vibration, light or other such means.

 

The Act is not applicable if the disturbance is wholly temporary.

 

Anyone who intends to perform some kind of activity that is included in the concept

environmentally hazardous activity must choose such location that can be acceptable considering environment protection.

Anyone performing or intending to perform environmentally hazardous activity shall take such protective action, tolerate such restriction of the activity and take such other precautionary measures as may reasonably be demanded for preventing or remedying detriment.

These fundamental permissibility rules are to be considered by any performer even if there is no permit required.  When the activity require a permit, these rules shall be considered by the permit authority when examining an application.

About 7000 plants or installations in Sweden are subject to a permit requirement.  The kind of plants and installations that need a permit are to be found in the Annex to The Environment Protection Ordinance.

There are two different levels of permit authorities in Sweden.  The Licensing Board considers permit applications concerning the plants and installations that are supposed to be the more hazardous ones.  Applications concerning smaller plants and less hazardous activities are to be examined by The County Administrative Board.  There are 24 County Administrative Boards in Sweden.

A permit application shall contain:

·         particulars, drawings and technical descriptions required for an assessment of the nature and extent of the environmentally hazardous activity

·         an environment impact assessment

·         proposals for the protective action or other precautionary measures required to prevent or remedy detrimental effects of the activity and proposals as to how the activity should be inspected

·         an account of the consultations that have taken place with central and local authorities, organizations and individuals who may have an interest in the matter

 

The system of integrated permitting means that all the different kind of operations and

activities that occur in a plant or an installation are examined at one occasion and by only one

 

authority.

When examining a permit application, the permit authority takes into consideration all the different kind of hazardous activities that may take place within a plant or an installation.

The permit authority is responsible for carrying out a complete investigation of the case in question.  The authority makes an assessment of all the disturbances and detrimental effects that may occur.  Operation of an environmentally hazardous activity generally leads to pollution of air, pollution of water, noise and waste.

The permit authority also consider what protective actions or other precautionary measures required.

According to Swedish law, an environmentally hazardous activity is subject to consideration in each specific case.  The permit authority shall in a permit decision specify in detail the environmentally hazardous activity to which the permit relates and the conditions apply to.

In the Swedish Environmental Protection Act there are no rules dealing with general limit values.  In this respect Swedish environmental law differ from the rules of the EC.

All environmentally hazardous activities are under the supervision of a supervisory authority.  Such an authority has several legal instruments that can be used in purpose of exercising supervision.  Among the legal possibilities, the authority has got a right of access to a plant or another installation and to carry out an investigation of the plant or the installation and the area that belongs to it.

Furthermore, anyone performing environmentally hazardous activity is obliged to, on request, submit to the supervisory authority the information required about the installation.

In general a supervisory authority may, because of particular circumstances, issue an injunction concerning such precautionary measures as are necessary for compliance with the Environment Protection Act or with directives issued pursuant to this Act.  A supervisory authority may also issue prohibition of an environmentally hazardous activity if the authority consider the operation not permissible.

If a permit has been granted according to this Act and if the permit-holder disregards any condition specified in the permit decision, the supervisory authority may enjoin him to rectify the matter.

Furthermore, a sentence of fines or imprisonment could be imposed on any permit-holder who deliberately or through negligence disregards a condition specified in a permit decision.

One of the advantages of an integrated permitting is that all the operations within an environmentally hazardous activity are dealed with at one occasion.  The permit authority has got the possibility of making a comprehensive assessment concerning the hazardous activity and its detrimental effects.

The system of integrated permitting also implies that there is only one authority dealing with supervision over the plant or installation.  When the supervisory authority exercises an inspection the authority has got the opportunity to get a general picture of the hazardous activity.

On the other hand the system of integrated permitting does not give you a general picture concerning the whole country or a part of the country.  As told before the permit authority makes assessments of environmental hazardous activities in each specific case.  That means that the authority doesn't take into consideration the total effect of a number of different hazardous ac­tivities.

I believe that the system of integrated permitting implies more advantages than difficulties.  The system of integrated permitting in combination with an extended and developed organization for supervision lead to an opportunity to enhance compliance and enforceability.  However, I believe that the Swedish system of permitting and supervision should be completed with rules about limited values in specific respects.

The conclusion is that the way to ensure compliance and enforceability a system of integrated permitting combined with specific limited values is required.