EIA – Procedure

General information

Within the framework of an EIA procedure the impacts of a project on the environment are described and assessed. It is decided via decree whether a licence can be granted for the respective project (e.g. waste treatment plants, intensive livestock installations, industrial plants).

The procedural deadline for the EIA procedure amounts to nine months.

For certain rail or road construction plans separate provisions apply (e.g. extended procedural period).

Requirements

See "General information".

Deadlines

See "General information".

Competent authority

• the respective competent Provincial Government^{German text} according to the location of the project
• for the implementation of the procedure for federal roads and high-performance railroad tracks: the Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (→ BMK)

Procedure

The implementation of the approval procedure is applied for by the project applicant with the competent authority.

Have party status in an EIA approval procedure:

• Neighbours, if they are endangered or inconvenienced by the construction, operation or existence of the project
• Owners of establishments in which persons regularly stay temporarily (with regard to their protection)
• Parties provided for under the applicable administrative regulations
• Environmental lawyers
• Water management planning bodies
• Site municipalities and directly neighbouring affected Austrian municipalities
• Citizens' initiatives
• Recognised environmental organisations
• Site lawyers

In several stages of the EIA procedure there is public participation

• Making the project documents open for inspection by the public
• Right to comment on the application documents open for inspection and on the Environmental Impact Statement of the project applicant for every person
• Right of inspection of the opinion on environmental soundness
• Right of participation within the framework of a possible public discussion
• Right of participation of the parties in the oral negotiation
• Information on the decision taken

Concerning the technical assessment of the possible impact of a project on the environment, experts from the various technical fields are made available by the competent authority. They prepare within the framework of the EIA procedure jointly a comprehensive expert opinion on environmental impacts.

After the preparation of the opinion on environmental soundness this is made available for public inspection by all stakeholders. After a public discussion (optional) and an oral procedure the competent authority decides on the approvability of the project.

The decree is made available for public inspection at the competent authority and at the community of location for a period of at least eight weeks. Moreover, information is also provided on the internet.

After the expiry of a period of two weeks following this announcement the administrative order shall be considered delivered also to the persons who did not or not timely participate in the EIA procedure.

After the completion of the project an acceptance test by the authority is carried out.

A follow-up control is provided for after three to five years.

Required documents

• The documents required according to administrative provisions (e.g. presentation of the plan, approval of the owner of the land)
• Environmental Impact Statement

The Environmental Impact Statement shall contain the following:

• Description of the project according to location, type, and extent, in particular
  • Description of the physical features of the total project including, where relevant, Requisite demolition works as well as the demand for land use during the construction and the operation
  • Description of the most important features of the production (such as processing procedures), in particular with respect to type and quantity of the materials and natural resources used
  • Type and quantity of the residues and emissions to be expected (e.g. water, air, soil and subsoil pollution, noise, vibrations, light, heat, radiation) resulting from the construction and Operation Phase
  • The increase in emissions caused by the Project
  • Climate and energy concept (energy concept, broken down according to plants, machines and tools as well as according to fuels, available energetic ratios, presentation of energy flows, measures on energy efficiency, presentation of the climatically relevant greenhouse gases caused by the project and measures aiming at their reduction for the purpose of climate protection, confirmation of an authorised civil engineer of a technical office that the measures contained in the climate and energy concept comply with the state-of-the-art)
  • Description of the vulnerability of the project to risks of major accidents or natural disasters and to climate change (in particular due to the project location) als far as this is relevant to the project concerned
  • Soil protection concept:
    Land requirements during the construction and operational phases in the form of land use balances (comparison of land use with and without the project, specification of built-over, non-built-over and temporarily used areas), specification of sealing, characterisation of soils on the basis of a soil function evaluation, measures to reduce the use of land and soil as well as measures to keep sealing to a minimum, each broken down by soil function and the respective degree of functional fulfilment, measures to restore, compensate for or improve soil functions, justification of the selected project design from the perspective of soil protection
• Description of the most important other realistic solutions examined by the project applicant (e.g. in terms of project design, technology, location, size and scale) the baseling scenario and an indication of the main reasons for selecting the chosen option including a comparison of the environmental impacts, the location and route variants examined by the project applicant in the case of section 1 paragraph 1 (4) of the UVP-G
  • The location and route variants examined by the project applicant in the case of section 1 paragraph 1 (4) of the UVP-G
• Description of the aspects of the environment likely to be significantly affected by the project including in particular humans beings, biodiversity including Fauna, Flora and their habitats, land taken, soil, water, air, climate, landscape and material assets including the cultural heritage and the inter-relationship between the above factors
• Description of the likely significant effects of the proposed project on the environment resulting from
  • the construction and operation of the project
  • the use of natural resources
  • the emission of pollutants, noise, vibration, light, heat and radiation, the creation of nuisances, and the disposal and recovery of waste
  • the cumulation of effects with other existing or approved projects
  • the risks of major accidents or natural disasters and the climate change as far as this is relevant to the project concerned
  • description of the methods used to forecast the effects on the Environment
• Description of measures envisaged to prevent, reduce or, where possible, offset any significant adverse effects of the project on the environment and of relevant measures to prevent or reduce the effects deriving from the risks to major accidents or natural desasters as well as follow-up measures and any measures to secure evidence and ensure concomitant Control
• Non-technical summary of the information mentioned in numbers 1 to 5
• Short indication of any difficulties (in particular technical deficiencies or lack of data) of the project applicant in compiling the required information
• Reference to "Strategic Environmental Assessments" carried out for the purposes of Directive No 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes with respect to the project

Costs and fees

The costs depend on the respective Landesabgabenverordnung (Provincial Ordinance on Levies and Fees). Please ask the competent authority in advance.

Further information

EIA procedure (→ BMK)^{German text}

Legal bases

sections 3 paragraph 3, 4 paragraph 3, 5 and 6 paragraph 1 of the Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungsgesetz (UVP-G)

Expert information

Guidelines on the Environmental Impact Statement and for certain types of projects (→ BMK)^{German text}