Publication
General Scheme - Environmental Protection (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
On 11 June 2024, the Government approved the General Scheme of the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 which is intended to streamline the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) licencing system by providing definite timeframes for EPA licencing decisions and more options for the Agency to efficiently regulate lower risk activities and minor changes to licences. It also ensures that appropriate and proportionate environmental protections are firmly in place.
The Bill aims to provide more certainty around the timeframe for decisions on applications for EPA licences for the energy, food, pharma, chemicals, waste and other industrial sectors and will complement the statutory timelines being introduced under the Planning and Development Bill 2023.
The General Scheme and associated Regulatory Impact Analysis are published below. The General Scheme will be the basis of the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 which will be brought to Government before being published and introduced in the Oireachtas.
