Introduction
Natural values and their protection were included in the Prime
Minister Jyrki Katainen's government programme as an area for
improvement. Hence, the possibility to include the protection of
natural values in the Environmental Protection Act is now being
investigated. In the current Finnish system pollution control
issues are provided in the Environmental Protection Act, whereas
natural values are protected by the Nature Conservation Act, zoning
legislation and natural resources legislation. The current state of
how natural values are mainly regulated by the Nature Conservation
Act has been considered to be insufficient by the Ministry of the
Environment.
The Ministry of the Environment has on 30 November 2011 appointed
a working group to investigate the revision of the Environmental
Protection Act, among others. The working group was divided into
four project groups, of which the fourth group was assigned to
investigate whether regulation regarding natural values and their
consideration should be incorporated into the Environmental
Protection Act.
To support the fourth group, reports were ordered on the matter
for example from professor Ari Ekroos and Matias Warsta. Their
report "Natural values in the environmental permit procedure
– A report on the revision possibilities of the
Environmental Protection Act and other legislation" dated 11
March 2012 is available on the website of the environmental
administration (www.ymparisto.fi).
Suggested changes
Ekroos's and Warsta's report presents several
possibilities on how natural values could better be included into
the Finnish environmental legislation. These suggested revisions
can be divided into three groups.
The first alternative concerns the Environmental Protection Act.
The current Act is connected with the Nature Conservation Act
through reference provisions, which means that natural values are
considered to some extent during the environmental permit
procedure. Thus, mainly such values that are protected by virtue of
Nature Conservation Act are taken into account.
Ekroos and Warsta point out two central areas where changes would
strengthen the position of natural values in the environmental
permit procedure. The first one concern the selection of location.
A revised regulation could include a more thorough obligation to
consider natural values when deciding upon the location for the
activity. Secondly, the possibility of giving more importance to
natural values in the conditions for granting an environmental
permit is discussed. These changes would require that the concept
of a natural value would be defined in the Environmental Protection
Act. Thus, the scope of protected natural values would be expanded
and the provisions concerning nature conservation would be divided
into two different statutes.
The second group of possible revisions suggested by Ekroos and
Warsta regards other comprehensive changes of legislation and laws
that would concerns all types of projects and not only those
requiring environmental permit. For example a prohibition of
diminishing natural values could be introduced into the Nature
Conservation Act and an activity could be allowed to differ from
the prohibition only through permits, if the effect of the activity
would not essentially weaken the natural values and be of public
interest. Another suggested change regards an expanded
environmental impact assessment, where also small-scale projects
with altering effects on the environment could be assessed.
Finally, also revisions of the Land Use and Building Act are
suggested. Here a new permit for assessing alteration on
environment with natural values is suggested to be included into
the Act.
The third group of suggested changes is restricted to activities
regarding peat production, which relate to the public debate on the
environmental impact of this specific production. In this section,
revisions regarding natural values and their consideration in peat
production activities are suggested to the Environmental Protection
Act, Nature Conservation Act and Water Act, among others.
Conclusions
At this point it is not yet possible to estimate the result of the revision of the Environmental Protection Act but it would seem likely that some revisions regarding natural values will be carried out. Especially some of the suggested amendments would mean significant changes to the current permit system. Therefore it is of importance for stakeholders to closely monitor the drafting process and assess the impact of the suggested amendments to be able to communicate these during the upcoming commenting phase. Some of the proposals would not only concern industrial activities but also target e.g. construction of infrastructure, which may have a wide-ranging impact on infra projects. The circulation for comment regarding the government bill to amend the Environmental Protection Act will be carried out during October and November. Attorneys at law Borenius will arrange a breakfast seminar on the matter on 6 November 2012. A separate save-the-date and invitation will be sent.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.