The assessment of the impact of buildings on the environment will be simpler

Prague - A new amendment signed today by President Miloš Zeman aims to simplify the assessment of the impact of construction plans on the environment (EIA). The spokesperson for the Castle Jiří Ovčáček informed ČTK about this. Among other things, the amendment limits the number of plans subject to assessment. Environmental organizations disagreed with the changes.

The law also extends the basic validity period of the EIA opinion from five to seven years. The reason is that the EU previously refused to provide subsidies for some Czech transport constructions due to outdated EIA assessments.

Minister of the Environment Richard Brabec (ANO) has previously stated that there are dozens of transport plans in the Czech Republic with EIA opinions that are up to 15 years old. The amendment aims to allow the extension of the basic validity period of the opinion by five years, making it potentially valid for 12 years.

Approximately 2,000 so-called minor projects are assessed annually in the Czech Republic. According to Brabec, only 300 of these should be assessed moving forward, specifically in specially protected areas. The opportunity for the public and concerned authorities to express their opinions on the assessment is also being removed, which will shorten the EIA process by the duration for these measures as well as other related deadlines.

According to environmental organizations, such as Hnutí Duha, Brabec has accommodated the interests of industrial associations in the amendment and radically limited the number of assessed projects. "Minister Brabec has taken away people's opportunity to express their opinions on buildings in their vicinity. He has opposed four-fifths of the citizens of our country, who, according to public opinion polls, support local people being able to co-decide about their surroundings," stated Daniel Vondrouš, the director of the Green Circle, earlier.

The amendment will also clarify the provision under which the government could, in exceptional cases, exempt construction projects from the EIA process where public interest in its implementation significantly exceeds environmental protection interests. The amendment also introduces the obligation to evaluate individual project alternatives in the screening procedure, if they have been proposed.