Stärkt miljöprövning i enklare former - Green Business AB

Abstract
The backdrop to this report is an earlier instruction by the government
to the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Nutek) to
look at the general administrative burden imposed on companies by
legal frameworks. A resulting consultancy report leads to claims that
the environmental licensing system is one of the most burdensome
environmental systems. This report, funded by Nutek, seeks to
identify opportunities for improving that “burdensome”
environmental licensing system.
The existing system for environmental licensing has without doubt
been a major contributor to improving the environmental performance
of industry over the last 40 years, and to limiting the number of
pollution incidents. Proposing changes to a system which has been
proven to work might therefore sound rash. At the same time,
however, one might argue that we have reached a plateau, and now is
the time to reassess our legal framework in order to help ensure we
meet the needs of future generations.
Though not pronounced, the environmental licensing system has also
had its fair share of criticism. The greatest criticism has been laid at
the fact that the process today is in general very time-consuming and
requires considerable administrative input. The changes brought
about by the implementation of The Environmental Code in 1999 may
have been a contributing factor. It certainly brought with it greater
administration demands, as well as difficulties in interpretation,
assessment and monitoring.
This report highlights the fact that many of the problems stem from
the manner in which the decision process is handled, rather than some
greater weakness in the legal framework itself. The proposals made
for improvement are therefore focussed more on attempting to reduce
the time-frames and administrative burdens whilst not compromising
effective requirements for environmental protection and improvement.
Even with implementation of some, if not all, of the proposals,
environmental licensing will still continue to play an important and
necessary role in helping to meet policy commitments.
The Swedish environmental licensing system has been used as the basis
for this study, as well as corresponding international regulations, in
particular those issued by the EU and OECD. The study hopes to