Administrative authorization process

• Law No. 4685/2020
• Law No. 4014/2011
• Joint Min. Decision 146896/2014
• Min. Decision 74463/4562

The administrative authorization procedure includes the issue and approval of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). In general, there are two stages of the EIA approval procedure (art.4 Law No. 4014/2011). The first stage includes the submission of the EIA to the competent authority (MEE or the Decentralised Regional Administration) and it is examined whether the EIA is complete. The second stage foresees that the EIA study is forwarded to other competent authorities and agencies (e.g., responsible for forestry, archaeology, etc.) in order to collect their opinion. If other competent authorities and agencies do not respond within the deadlines set in the Law No. 4685/2020, the authority proceeds with the EIA approval. Nevertheless, exceptions apply with regard to views and comments of certain agencies, which are considered essential (e.g., archaeological and forestry). Here, in case of no answer, the issue will be examined by the Central (or the Regional) Council of Environmental Licensing within 20 days. The EIA approval is valid for 15 years.
With regard to IEA requirements the projects are divided in three categories (Min. Decision 74463/4562)
• Category A1 (wind power plants with capacity above 60 MW and wind power plants with capacity above 45 MW and located in protected area or including the construction of a High Voltage Line longer than 20 km): Projects must submit an IEA study and their application is examined by MEE.
• Category A2 (wind power plants with capacity between 10 MW and 60 MW, and wind power plants with capacity between 10 MW and 45 MW located in a protected area, PV plants with capacity above 10 MW, small hydro power plants with capacity below and equal 15 MW): Projects must submit an IEA study and their application is examined by the Decentralised Regional Administration.
• Category B (wind power plants with capacity below 10 MW, PV plants with capacity below and equal 10 MW, small hydro power plants with capacity below 0.5 MW): Projects must meet pre-defined environmental terms (Standard Environmental Requirements procedure) and their application is examined by the Decentralised Regional Administration.
Especially, for small hydropower plants, a permit for the exploitation of water resources for electricity generation is required (water use authorisation). The permit analyses the availability of the water quantities used by the plant. In addition, a further license is required to carry out water exploitation projects (realisation of water exploitation works). However, for small hydropower plants (up to 10 MW), a Single Permit, which includes both licenses, is issued (Joint Min. Decision 146896/2014). Both licenses are examined by the Decentralised Regional Administration.

• Decentralised Regional Administrations
• MEE