Mepa floats new environmental permit regime

Public consultation is currently underway on a new environmental permit system, drafted by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, which seeks to bring about a culture change in how businesses shoulder their eco-responsibilities.

There are about 400 legal notices and policies that affect industry

Spearheaded by the Environmental Permitting and Industry Unit, the system is designed to make businesses – particularly those impacting the environment most – adequately aware of their myriad green obligations.

The consultation opened in December and was scheduled to wrap up at the end of this month. It has, however, been extended to accommodate more meetings with stakeholders. Implementation is envisaged to be phased in in early summer.

“The current legislative system is somewhat fragmented,” unit manager Michael Sant told The Sunday Times. “There are about 400 different legal notices and policies that affect industry. It is difficult for industry to be fully aware of its obligations, interpretations, and the repercussions of non-compliance.

“Under this system, we are hoping to bring all of that under a single system. It is also a way of reaching out to industry.”

The unit is hoping businesses and stakeholders will give feedback on practical issues like the prioritisation of sectors, and the optimal setting of environmental impact and thresholds.

Mr Sant explained that most of the more knowledgeable companies would be aware of most of their obligations although some would potentially not have interpreted the law correctly. Others would be simply unaware that specific legal notices existed, and enforcement tended to be reactive in such cases.

The new system sought to be proactive in terms of ensuring businesses were compliant.

The draft regime is risk-based and seeks to better regulate activities with significant impact on the environment such as fuel and container terminals, shipyards, airports, batching plants, quarries, fish farms, waste management operations, activities involving discharges into the sea, and some manufacturing plants.

To continue to operate, businesses like these are required to apply for an environmental permit within a specific timeframe. The permit will impose conditions on air emissions, waste water discharge, noise and vibration, waste management, and materials storage. The permit may also impose a programme to upgrade an activity’s practices.

Application timeframes are governed by a four-tier system covering a range of industries. Permits would be valid for four years, after which businesses will have to apply for renewal. Compliance will be audited periodically by officials carrying out random or planned checks.

“We can help applicant enterprises on the road to compliance,” Mr Sant added. “Those discussions bring many benefits to businesses, like legal certainty, safeguards to investment, and cost savings.

“For now, the consultation will focus on the concept rather than the technicalities, which will take place later. At the moment, we are trying to increase the industrial sector’s and the public’s participation so that we can take as many suggestions and proposals on board as possible.”

This new set-up is long in the making. Under an EU-funded project, the unit brought in volunteer pilot companies, including construction, pharmaceutical and manufacturing activities, on which to run a series of checks as a way to understand how best to interact with industry. The exercise gave the unit insight into common practices within industries and the practicality of planned measures.

Mr Sant said most industries had specific ‘blind spots’ – the construction sector’s environmental shortcoming was often the generation of dust, for instance.

The large players in the high-tech industries have already applied for permits and most quarries have also submitted applications after Mepa officials conducted site visits to brief operators about the new system.

Senior environment protection officer Rachel Decelis said the unit had held meetings with several bodies, including Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks, and feedback had been mostly positive.

“One area we need to improve upon is the establishment of thresholds,” Ms Decelis explained.

“In some cases, we have realised that the employee thresholds we set need re-examining. It is really industry that can guide authorities on issues relating to the impact of production capacities of a certain volume and such like. We are very open to suggestion. Even the application forms were drafted following the exercise with the pilot companies.”

An open consultation meeting, organised in collaboration with Meusac, will be held on January 24 before the first phase of the consultation closes on February 7.

Ms Decelis said members of the public, service providers, industry representatives, non-governmental organisations, and local councils all had an interest to attend.

The proposed environmental permitting framework is accessible online at www.mepa.org.mt/public-consultation.