From Mr P. Gingell

Your report “The long extent of EIA waiving” that listed a number of so-called waIvered cases compiled by Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) (TMIS, 22 April) warrants some clarifications. The report gives the misconception that MEPA waives Environmental Impact Assessments.

To date, MEPA has never exempted any project from undergoing an Environmental Impact Assessment as provided under Article 2 (3) of Directive 85/337/EEC, the EIA Directive. Only such exemptions would have required the European Commission to be informed prior to the issuing of the relative development permit.

The EIA Directive provides a list of projects that MUST always be subjected to an EIA, unless use is made of the provisions of Article 2(3) of the Directive. These projects are listed in Annex 1 of the Directive.

The Directive also includes a second list of projects (Annex 2). Member States have a degree of discretion as to whether such projects should be subjected to an EIA or not. This can be done on the basis of pre-established thresholds, on a case-by-case basis or a mix of both approaches. Consequently, there are substantial differences between member States, both as regards categories of projects that require an EIA as well as in individual thresholds. For example, not all member States consider housing developments to be urban development projects requiring an EIA and among those that do, the thresholds established vary greatly, from 500 units in Ireland, to 4000 units in built-up areas in The Netherlands, to developments exceeding 100,000 square metres in Austria or greater than 10ha in urban areas in Italy. There are also noticeable differences as regards other urban development projects, as can be seen from the Table taken from an official Commission Report. The same is true for many other categories.

MEPA has always required Annex 1 and several Annex 2 projects to carry out an EIA, through the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). No exemptions can be granted from an EIS. A number of other Annex 2 projects may, under Maltese law, require a lighter form of EIA, known as an Environmental Planning Statement (EPS). An exemption is only possible for an EPS. It is clear that Maltese law regards the thresholds in Category 1 of the First Schedule of LN 204/2001 as mandatory and those in Category 2 of the First Schedule as indicative.

Only a very few projects have been exempted from an EPS to date, and these have all been Annex 2 projects. Such exemptions are at the discretion of the member State concerned and there is no requirement under the Directive to inform the Commission prior to issue of the relative development permit. Since 2001, a total of 219 projects were screened and found to require an EIS or EPS. Of these 21 were exempted in accordance with the provisions of LN 204, representing less than 10 per cent of the total.

(*) Reference: Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the Application and Effectiveness of the EIA Directive (http://ec.europa.eu/

environment/eia/pdf/report_en.pdf)

Peter Gingell

Marketing Executive

Malta Environment

& Planning Authority