Obstacles to municipal environmental licensing - Analysis of the main difficulties and obstacles in the environmental licensing procedures of municipalities

Abstract

Environmental licensing is one of the main instruments of the National Environmental Policy, mainly due to its nature of prevention of the significance of environmental damages. After the enactment of complementary law no. 140/11, municipalities were given the explicit competence to license enterprises and activities whose environmental impact is classified as local, provided they have a qualified technical body and a municipal environmental council. After almost six years of enforcement of the aforementioned complementary law, it is verified that most municipalities have not yet been able to implement an efficient and effective environmental licensing system, configuring themselves as mere emitters of environmental licenses. The main problems encountered in municipal environmental licensing are addressed in this paper, such as inconsistencies in the definition of competence of the licensing body, deficiencies in the normative framework, mainly regarding legislation on land use and occupation (zoning), low technical capacity and Lack of independence of municipal environmental agencies, excessive bureaucracy and high processing time, as well as lack of transparency and social control. The analysis of these obstacles points to the need for improvements and effective changes in municipal environmental systems, making environmental licensing play the role of collective protection.