Environmental Permits And Assessments in Turkey
Overview
Pursuant to the Environmental Law, environmental permits and assessments are governed by the Regulation on Environmental Permit and License and the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation. These regulations introduce an extensive system of licenses and permits required to be obtained pursuant to the environmental legislation.
Environmental Impact Assessment
Depending on the risk proile that the activity of an entity possesses vis-à-vis the environment, such entity may be required to obtain an environmental impact assessment report. For large-scale industrial investment, it is almost always mandatory to obtain a report analysing whether the investment would have signiicant adverse efects on the environment. The report itself is not suicient to obtain the clearance of the Ministry of the Environment and Urbanisation for the implementation of the project. The applicable legislation also requires public consultation meetings and review by a special independent committee before the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation may issue an “Environment Impact Assessment Airmative” or “Environment Impact Assessment Negative” decision.
In the former case, the investor can proceed with the investment, subject to other necessary clearances being obtained (if any), whereas the latter restricts any future activity in connection with the investment. Moreover, for the activities subject to environmental impact assessment without getting the EIA Airmative decision, no other public procedure such as tenders, incentives, plan approvals could be conducted. EIA behaves like a prerequisite for whole other procedures.
Environmental Permits
Investors are obliged to obtain either a “Environmental Permit” or “Environmental Permit and License” depending on the impact of their activities on the environment. The Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation issues an “Environmental Permit” in connection with air emission, environmental noise, deep sea discharge, or hazardous waste discharge from a facility. Investors have to obtain an “Environmental Permit and License” in relation to the technical suiciency of the relevant facility. Each permit and license issued under the Environmental Law is valid for 5 years from the date of issuance and is renewable for additional 5-year periods thereafter.
As a general rule, entities active in the energy, mining, construction and building materials, metal, chemical, surface coating, forest products, food, agriculture and stockbreeding, and waste management sectors and industries are required to obtain either an “Environmental Permit” or an “Environmental Permit and License”, depending on their production capacity and their discharge requirements. Even if an entity is not subject to licensing under the environmental legislation, it must still comply with the same whilst engaging in activities.
Other Environmental Obligations
Although most of the environmental obligations are covered by (i) Environmental Law, (ii) Environmental Permits and Licenses Regulation and (iii) Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation, other (in particular sector-speciic) environmental obligations are included in other regulations. Entities should also comply with other environmental obligations with respect to the area of activities, speciied in the Industrial Air Pollution Control Regulation, Regulation on Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise, Regulation on Protection of Wetlands, Waste Management Regulation, Oil Waste Control Regulation, Packaging Waste Control Regulation, the Regulation on Mitigating the Impacts and Preventing the Severe Industrial Accidents, Radiation Safety Regulation.