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Study – Legal framework for mineral extraction and permitting procedures for exploration and exploitation in the EU

MinPol is pleased to present this Final Report of the European Commission-commissioned MINLEX project (the project´s full name: “Study - Legal framework for mineral extraction and permitting procedures for exploration and exploitation in the EU”). The overall objective of this study is to provide the European Commission (EC) with an up-to-date understanding of the legal framework and the permitting procedures governing the non-energy minerals extractive industry in the European Union (EU). This report is composed of two parts: a report and an annex. The report consists of summarised information structured into: An introduction (background, scope, state of the art and methodology) ; A chapter on the EU legislation relevant to permitting procedures governing the non-energy minerals industry focusing on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, relevant Conventions, relevant items of the EU Internal Market and Environmental legislation and rulings of the European Court of Justice ; A chapter with summarised findings of permitting procedures per Member State (MS) and an overview of the national and regional legislation and permitting competent entities, financial regimes, a comparison of permitting procedures among MSs, a summarised analysis of selected court cases and of a compilation of court cases and an overview of the permitting success rates per MS ; A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the relevant EU and national/regional legislation, of the EU raw materials policy framework and of the implementation by MSs of permitting procedures governing the non-energy minerals sector. The annex contains all information gathered and the detailed analysis of all the previously mentioned aspects. Information on EU legislation has been gathered and analysed by the team of MINLEX´s jurists. Information on MSs was collected by country experts and was revised by representatives of permitting authorities for all 28 MSs. Validation of the information for Germany, Italy and Spain (decentralised permitting procedures) was done for some decentralised jurisdictions but could not be achieved by the permitting authorities of all states/regions/provinces/autonomous communities1. For the UK, most relevant permitting authorities were contacted but answers were missing by some English, Scottish and Northern Ireland entities2. The permitting authorities who have revised the country reports include both mining and environmental ones. With the exception of Denmark, Italy, Malta, Romania, Sweden, and the UK in which representatives of both mining and environmental authorities revised the reports (in the case of Denmark it is a one-door authority), reports were revised by either a mining or an environmental permitting authority. Mining authorities validated the country reports of the following 15 jurisdictions: Austria, Wallonia (Belgium), Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland3, Portugal and Spain. Environmental authorities revised the reports of the following 8 jurisdictions: Flanders (Belgium), Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Greece, Latvia, Slovenia and Slovakia. MinPol and the project team expresses its sincere thanks to all authors, reviewers and respondents of the structured questionnaires who voluntarily contributed with time and information for this report. Despite its limitations, we believe this Report constitutes the most complete and comprehensive study in the subject of laws and permitting procedures governing the non-energy extractive industry in the 28 Member States of the European Union. We hope it will provide the European Mineral Raw Materials community and other communities with useful information to support the path towards a sustainable management of the European non-energy minerals.

mineral extraction ; permitting procedures ; mining authorities

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