Filenews 14 October 2021 - by Angelos Nikolaou
The phenomenon observed today with researchers without the necessary knowledge and experience, and Environmental Impact Assessment Studies (MEEP) without the necessary adequacy and quality, is expected to disappear with the passage of a relevant amendment of legislation that was discussed yesterday in the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment. The serious gaps currently present by some SMEs have no impact on those who prepare them and therefore this bill is expected to contribute to the improvement of the current institutional framework.
The improvement of existing legislation will have positive social consequences, as the aim of the Basic Law is, inter alia, to make a substantial contribution to ensuring a high level of protection of the environment, public health and the quality of life, through the assessment of the impact on the environment of public and private sector projects which can have a significant impact on the environment; before they are licensed or approved for implementation.
The head of the Environmental Impact Assessment Section of the Department of Environment presented the bill that aims to revise the regulations concerning the Register of Registered Designers and to upgrade their quality. The representatives of the Geological Survey Department and the Department of Forests asked for specific specialties to be added to the criteria of the bill.
The representatives of the Federation of Environmental Organizations of Cyprus (OPOK), BirdLife Cyprus and the Cyprus Foundation for the Protection of the Environment Terra Cypria suggested the approval of the bill, as it is a necessary and positive amendment of the legislation. In fact, OOK points out that the systemic problem of inadequate environmental impact assessment is, in part, due to the poor quality and serious gaps in some JEPs. Therefore, the proposed legislation concerns indirectly, but substantially, an infringement procedure in force, due to the environmental approval and urban planning permitting of several projects and plans without the competent authorities being satisfied that they will not have a significant negative impact on the objects of definition and the conservation objectives of protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network. Therefore, this bill is expected to contribute to the improvement of the current institutional (legal and administrative) framework and to cover a particularly significant weakness/inadequacy of some MEEP.
The ETEK spokesman said that the passage of the bill is necessary, that there was adequate consultation and called for the inclusion of some further criteria for the purposes of healthy competition. For her part, the representative of the Legal Service said that after the passage of the bill there is an obligation to notify it officially to the European Commission. But the director of the Department of Environment said that all the suggestions that have been made will be examined by the Environmental Authority.
The purpose of the amendment of the legislation is to put in place a framework for the Register of Scholars, which ensures the provisions of the EU Directives, to be in line with Cypriot market data, to be the result of broad consultation with stakeholders, to have reached a form of general consensus and to be limited to a Register of Coordinators. In this context, specific criteria (degrees, experience, education) are defined, so as to achieve the improvement of the quality of environmental studies, to incorporate procedures that are less time-consuming and more effective and for the competent authority to be able to apply it.
In the preparation of the bill, the Department of Environment had incorporated relevant provisions for the creation and implementation of a register of designers for environmental studies, a provision that was necessary and based on the relevant Directives. However, serious disagreements were identified in the consultation process, mainly by consulting firms and consultancy firms. For this reason, the competent authority has removed these provisions on condition that they are further discussed and a consensual solution is found. In the process of debating the bill in the House, these provisions were added by the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, although problems had been identified and disagreements had been expressed.
Subsequently, the competent authority proceeded to a series of consultations with the stakeholders and is now proceeding with the amendment of the relevant provisions, so that there is as broad a consensus as possible. The main results of the public consultation were that the provisions as they stand in the existing legislation are unenforceable and should be replaced with provisions that are applicable and aligned with the provisions of the EU Directives.
