National Contact Point for Renewable Energy Sources

The basic purpose of an environmental decision is to assess the impact of the planned project on the environment and to determine the conditions to be met by the investor in order to minimise the negative consequences for nature and human health.

In the environmental decision, the authority defines i.a. the environmental protection requirements and the conditions to be met by the investor at project implementation and operation stages. So, the purpose of the decision is to balance the needs for economic growth and the protection of the environment and human health.

The environmental decision issue process is initiated at the request of the investor.

The application should:

• specify the applicant filing the application and their address;
• include a request for an environmental decision for a specific project.

The investor should attach the following to the application:

• a project data sheet (KIP) or an environmental impact report if an environmental impact assessment is required;
• a copy of a cadastral map certified by a competent authority, either as a hard copy or digital, which covers the planned project site and the area on which the project, in the variant proposed by the applicant, will have an impact. This impact area is understood as:

a)    the planned project implementation site and the area up to 100 m form the boundaries of that site;
b)    the plots on which the environmental quality standards would be breached as a result of the implementation, operation or use of the project, or
c)     the plots within the range of a significant project impact which may result in restrictions on the currently intended development of the real property;

• a paper or digital map at a sufficient scale to guarantee the legibility of the presented data, outlining the site where the project is expected to be implemented and outlining the expected project area within 100 m from the boundaries of the site;
• extract and excerpt from the Local Zoning Plan, if it is required, or an annotation that there is no Local Zoning Plan (if the competent authority to take the decision is the Regional Director for Environmental Protection);
• an extract and excerpt from the register of land or any other paper or digital document issued by the authority keeping the register of land and buildings which makes it possible to establish the parties to the procedure and which specifies at least the reference number of the plot and, if disclosed, the title register number for the plot, the first and last name or the business name and the address of the registered party – for the expected project site and for the project impact area (it is not required to be attached if the number of pages in the environmental decision issuance proceedings exceeds 10);
• proof of stamp duty payment;
• for applications filed by authorised representatives – the authorisation and the receipt for the stamp duty for the authorisation.

Even if the investor files a KIP, the authority may still require the investor to carry out an environmental impact assessment in the course of the procedure, which entails the requirement for the investor to prepare an environmental impact report.  The report requires an investor to conduct in-depth research of the environmental conditions of project implementation.

Once the application is filed, the authority reviews it to establish if the energy storage project can be implemented in accordance with the regulations of the environmental protection law and it formulates the necessary opinions/requirements in this respect.

During the procedure, the authority may determine the obligation to prepare an environmental impact assessment report for the project. In such a case, it should specify the scope of the report to be submitted by the applicant. If the investment is to be located within landscape parks or areas of protected landscape, the applicant may independently request the determination of the report’s scope.

The environmental impact assessment is mandatory if:

• project implementation depends on the establishment of an area of limited use referred to in the Environmental Law;
• the project data sheet suggests that the implementation of the project may prevent the environmental objectives laid down in the waste management plan for the catchment area from being achieved.

The regulations require that the report include information allowing for the assessment of the following environmental impact criteria:

• the impact of the project on the environment and the population, including human health and living conditions, material assets, cultural heritage, landscape (including cultural landscape), interactions between these elements, and access to mineral deposits;
• the options and ways of preventing and reducing negative environmental impacts;
• risk of major failures, natural disasters and construction accidents;
• the required scope of monitoring.

Furthermore, a project environmental impact report should:

• describe the planned project, especially by presenting:

1. a description of the whole project and the site use conditions at the implementation and operation or use stages, also addressing areas at a special risk of flood within the meaning of Article 16(34) of the Water Law;
2. the main characteristics of the production processes;
3. the expected types and quantities of emissions, including waste, arising from the project implementation and operation or use stages;
4. information on the biological diversity, utilisation of natural resources, including soil, water and earth surface;
5. information on the demand for and consumption of energy;
6. information on demolition works for projects having a potentially significant environmental impact;
7. a risk – assessed based on scientific knowledge – of major failures, natural disasters and construction accidents, taking into consideration the substances used and the technologies applied, including the risk related to climate change;

• describe the elements of the natural environment covered by the expected environmental impact of the planned project, including:

1. elements of the environment covered by conservation under the Nature Act and the wildlife corridors within the meaning of this Act;
2. the hydromorphological, physicochemical, biological and chemical properties of waters;

• present the results of the environmental inventory, presented in both descriptive and cartographic form, if conducted, together with a description of the methodology, constituting an annex to the report;
• present other data underlying the description of natural environment elements;
• describe any historical monuments under conservation pursuant to monument conservation and care regulations which may be situated in the vicinity of or within the impact range of the project;
• describe the landscape where the project is to be located;
• present the information on ties to other projects, especially on cumulative impacts of any continuing, completed or planned projects which have an environmental decision and which are located within the planned site of the project in question and within the project impact range or which have impacts within the project impact range;
• describe the consequences expected for the environment if the project is abandoned; the description must include the available environmental information and scientific knowledge;
• present a description of the project variants, taking into account its specific characteristics or environmental impacts, including an indication of the variant selected for implementation, a reasonable alternative variant, and a reasonable variant most beneficial to the environment (the reasonable variant most beneficial to the environment may be identical to the selected implementation variant or to the reasonable alternative variant);
• describe the expected impact of the analysed variants on the environment (also in the case of a serious industrial accident, natural disaster or construction accident), on the climate (including greenhouse gas emissions and impacts important from the perspective of adapting to climate changes), as well as the possible cross-border environmental impact;
• compare the impacts of the analysed variants on:
  1. people, plants, animals, fungi, natural habitats, water and air;
  2. the earth surface (taking into account soil mass movements) and the landscape;
  3. dobra materialne;
  4. historical monuments and cultural landscape covered by the existing documentation especially entered in the register of historical monuments;
  5. the nature conservation forms referred to in Article 6(1) of the Nature Act, including the objectives and the subject matter of the conservation of Natura 2000 sites and the continuity of the wildlife corridors connecting those sites;
  6. elements referred to in Article 68(2)(2)(b) of the EIA Act, if they have been included in the environmental impact report or if they are required by the competent authority;
  7. mutual interactions between the elements listed in items (a) through (f) above;

• justify the variant proposed by the applicant, taking into account the information regarding the determination of the expected environmental impact of the analysed variants and the comparison of their impacts mentioned above;
• describe the forecasting methods used by the applicant and the expected significant environmental impacts of the planned project, including direct, indirect, secondary, cumulative, short-, medium- and long-term, permanent and temporary environmental impacts from:
  1. the existence of the project,
  2. the utilisation of natural resources,
  3. emissions;

• describe the anticipated actions to avoid, prevent, limit or offset any negative environmental impacts, especially impacts on the nature conservation forms referred to in Article 6(1) of the Nature Act, including the objectives and the subject matter of the conservation of Natura 2000 sites and the continuity of the wildlife corridors connecting those sites, along with the assessment of their effectiveness at the stages of project implementation, operation, use or shutdown;
• address the environmental objectives arising from strategic documents important from the perspective of project implementation;
• present the issues in a graphic version;
• include a cartographic presentation of the issues at a scale as required by the subject matter and level of detail of the issues analysed in the report for comprehensive presentation of the completed environmental impact analyses;
• analyse the possible social conflicts related to the planned project;
• present the proposed monitoring of project environmental impacts at the project implementation and operation or use stages, especially the impact on the nature conservation forms referred to in Article 6(1) of the Nature Act, including the objectives and the subject matter of the conservation of Natura 2000 sites and on the continuity of the wildlife corridors that connect those sites, and present the information on the results of other monitoring which may be relevant for establishing the responsibilities in this respect;
• specify any difficulties resulting from technological shortcomings or gaps in the state of the art which were encountered during report preparation works;
• summarise the information included in the report using non-specialist language by addressing every element of the report;
• specify the report date, the first name, last name and signature of the author or, if the report was prepared by a team of authors, specify the first name, last name and signature of the team leader and the first names, last names and signatures of the team members;
• contain, as an appendix to the report, a statement of the author or, if the report was prepared by a team of authors - by the team leader, confirming compliance with the requirements laid down in Article 74a(2) of the EIA Act;
• provide the sources of the information underlying the report.

Subsequently, the report is analysed by the authority in terms of the criteria established for the applicant and is consulted with competent institutions. If the report is approved, the authority may issue the environmental decision.

It should be noted that, pursuant to Article 63(5–6) of the EIA Act, the authority responsible for issuing the environmental decision shall suspend the proceedings for the duration of the preparation of the report, which the investor must complete within no more than three years. Upon expiry of this period, the request to initiate the proceedings is deemed to have been withdrawn.

Please note that the authority may also issue a decision stating there is no need for producing an environmental impact report and it may proceed to issue the environmental decision.

A refusal to issue the environmental decision is not discretionary as the authority may only refuse to grant the approval for the implementation of a project in specific, statutory cases, i.e. if:

• the location of the project is incompatible with the Local Zoning Plan, if any;
• a cooperating authority refuses to approve the implementation conditions for the project;
• the environmental impact assessment for the project suggests that the project cannot be implemented in the variant proposed by the applicant and the applicant rejects the project variant suggested by the authority;
• the environmental impact assessment for the project suggests that the project may have a significant negative impact on a Natura 2000 site;
• the environmental impact assessment of the project suggests that the project adversely affects the possibility of attaining the environmental objectives referred to in Article 56, Article 57, Article 59 and Article 61 of the Water Law.

The completion of the proceedings in the form of issuing an environmental decision (for instance in relation to a photovoltaic installation) should, in accordance with administrative procedure take place within one month. However, in practice this timeframe is rarely met, as it does not reflect the complexity and specific nature of the proceedings, which in most cases extend over several months.

In practice, it can take longer because this does not account for the legal time limits for obtaining approvals,opinions or public participation in the proceedings or for any process suspension periods. Furthermore, the decision may be delayed for other reasons, for example for reasons attributable to the party or reasons beyond the control of the authority, such as the need to supplement the documentation.

The authority competent for issuing the decision is in the principle the commune (Polish: gmina) authority, i.e. either the commune administrator (Polish: wójt) or the mayor. In the process, the competent authority seeks the opinions of the cooperating authorities, i.e. the Regional Director for Environmental Protection (RDOŚ), authorities of the Polish State Sanitary Inspectorate (Państwowa  Inspekcja  Sanitarna) (in accordance with the division specified in Article 78 of the EIA Act), the authority competent for the assessments required under the water legislation and the head of the Maritime Office – only for offshore projects. Where EIA is required, the competent Regional Director for Environmental Protection has a decisive influence on the conduct and outcome of the proceedings.

An environmental decision can be used at subsequent stages of the investment process for 6 years after it becomes final and binding. However, the validity of the decision can be extended to 10 years if, before the expiry of the 6 years, the environmental decision applicant or the entity to whom the decision was transferred receives a statement from the issuing authority of the original environmental decision that the project implementation conditions defined in the environmental decision remain valid.

The stamp duty for an environmental decision is PLN 205 and it must be paid at the submission of the application.

The  stamp  duty  for  an authorisation is PLN 17.

After receiving the decision, the applicant has 14 days to appeal against the decision to the Local Appeal Body (Samorządowe Kolegium Odwoławcze). Appeals are reviewed within 60 days of their delivery. Subsequent available remedies include a complaint to the Provincial Administrative Court and, as the next step, to the Supreme Administrative Court.

The application for an environmental decision can be submitted online via ePUAP, however, certain attachments to the application must be provided in hard copy.