The new law that will make the Basque Country a benchmark for environmental protection
The Basque Parliament has approved Law 10/2021, of December 9, which establishes the regulatory framework for the protection, conservation and improvement of the environment in the Basque Autonomous Community. With the new law, the regulation that has led environmental policy for more than 20 years is repealed. In recent decades, there has been an avalanche of directives, regulations and other technical content to protect the environment that have resulted in complex authorization procedures.
The law regulates the procedures of Environmental Assessment, Integrated Environmental Authorization, Activity License, Prior Communication, and highlights the establishment of a new system of administrative intervention: the Single Environmental Authorization (AAU). Thus, the activities specified in Annex I.B of the law must be adapted and obtain the corresponding AAU within a period of between 2 and 5 years.
In short, the aim is to guarantee a high level of environmental protection in accordance with the current Basque economic and social reality, making the different economic activities compatible with the environment in which they are carried out.
