The activities of the Environmental Board are based on the Statutes. Pursuant to §7 (2) 3) of Regulation No. 47 of the Minister of the Environment of 30.09.2020 "Statutes of the Environmental Board", the Environmental Board gives approvals and consents in the cases and pursuant to the procedures provided by legislation.
Pursuant to §42 (7) 1) of the Building Code, where necessary, the competent authority refers the proposal of the building permit for approval to the institution in whom the law vests competencies that are related to the subject matter of the application for building permit provides that the competent authority submits, if necessary, a draft building permit for approval to an authority whose competence arising from legislation is related to the object of the application for a building permit.
Therefore, before approval, it must be found out whether or not the specific application concerns the issues falling within the competence of the Environmental Board or not.
The Environmental Board approves applications that are:
- Related to protected natural objects governed by the Environmental Board (Grounds: §14 (1) 6-8) of the Nature Conservation Act (LKS). More detailed information can be found under "Planning and building".
- Applications for a building permit for a drilled well or borehole and construction projects for demolition (Grounds: §126 (1), §128 (2) of the Building Code). More detailed information can be found under "Drilled wells and effluent".
- Drafts for design specifications and building permit (Grounds: §174 (2) of the Water Act). More detailed information can be found under "Dams and damming".
- Draft design specifications for land improvement systems, construction projects, building permit drafts and renewal projects, if:
- The activity takes place in the artificial recipient (water body), which is included in the list of spawning and habitats of salmon, brown trout, salmon trout and grayling established on the basis of §51 (2) of LKS
- The site is located in a protected area, conservation area, permanent habitat or in the protection zone of an individual protected natural object
- Erection of construction works, without a construction notice or obligation to have a building permit, if it involves erection of new construction works in a conservation zone and erection of construction works, including temporary construction works, in limited management zone, unless otherwise provided by the protection regulation (Grounds: LKS §30 (2) 3), §31 (2) 8))
In other cases, there is no obligation to turn to the Environmental Board and the Environmental Board also does not have the right to approve anything in connection with construction.
The Environmental Board must be asked for an opinion in the following cases:
- Notification of possible maintenance works of artificial recipients to be organised by the state (Grounds: §44 (4) of the Land Improvement Act)
- Application for superficies licence and the draft must be sent to the Environmental Board for giving an opinion in the cases provided for in the Water Act.
It would be reasonable to ask for the opinion of the Environmental Board when granting design specifications and building permits if:
- A proposal for placing a natural object under protection or a procedure for placing an object under protection has been initiated within the meaning of §9 (1) of the Nature Conservation Act.
§8 (6) of LKS must be taken into account – if a proposal is made to place a natural object under protection or proceedings regarding placing a natural object under protection are initiated within the meaning of §9 (1) of LKS, the administrative authority who has received an application for making an another administrative decision that could affect the state of the natural object specified in the proposal will have the right to suspend the proceedings for making the administrative decision. This means that § 14 (1) 6-8)of LKS do not directly extend to the protected areas to be designed, but it is justified to ask the Environmental Board for an opinion in advance on the design specifications and the granting of a building permit in such areas.
- Depending on the scale, nature and impact of the construction work to be built in certain cases where the construction works is planned at the boundary of the protected area and the impact of the construction works (e.g. through emissions or nuisances directed at the site, changes in water mode, closing views) may extend to the protected area.
In such case, when submitting for an opinion on the design specifications and the draft building permit, the aim is also to obtain input on whether it may be an activity falling within the scope of §3 (1) 2) of KeHJS, to which a preliminary assessment of EIA (and, if necessary, a full EIA process) must be applied.
- Activity is planned
- At the place of finding of the species of the protected category I
- The activity may result in damage to plant and fungal species of protected category II, §55 (7) of LKS
- Relocation of a protected species may be necessary pursuant to §58 (6) of LKS
- As a result of the activity, the entire habitat of the species of protected category III may be destroyed, §55 (8) of the LKS
Pursuant to §4 (1) 3) of LKS, protected natural objects are also protected species and fossils. §14 (1) of LKS does not impose a direct obligation to ask for the approval of the issue of design specifications, building permits and permits for use from the Environmental Board in the place of finding of protected species and fossils. However, Chapter 8 and §65 of LKS set a number of conditions for the protection of species and fossils, the observance of which must be ensured by the executors of issuers of specific permits; certain specific activities (which may be directly related to the design specifications, building permit or, in special cases, also a permit for use) are permitted only with the consent of the Environmental Board. When granting design criteria or building permits, the protection requirements for species and fossils must therefore be taken into account, and here too it may be justified to ask the Environmental Board for an opinion. We definitely recommend the early involvement of the Environmental Board if the activities related to the design specifications or building permit are planned at the place of finding of species of protected category I, the activity may result in damage to plant species of protected category II, within the meaning of §55 (7) of LKS, or the entire habitat of species of protected category III may be destructed, within the meaning of §55 (8) of LKS or relocation of the protected species may be necessary pursuant to§58 (6) of LKS.
- It is a shore or a bank
Pursuant to §5 (3) of LKS, a shore or a bank protected under LKS is not a protected natural object. This means that the restrictions set out in Chapter 6 of LKS (including the implementation of the specifications of §38 (3), §38 (4) and (5) of LKS) must be observed primarily by the authority issuing the design specifications or building permit and their issue does not have to be approved by the Environmental Board. As there are many possibilities for interpretation in this field, cooperation with the Environmental Board in more complicated cases is also welcome when granting design specifications or building permits on the beach and shore.
- Other specific cases, by highlighting the question or area in which the opinion of the Environmental Board is required.
Last updated: 20.12.2022
