What documentation is needed to call the services conference?

The theme at the center of an environmental question from the Province of Lecco

Paur: what documentation is needed to call the services conference? This is the subject of the environmental ruling from the Province of Lecco 22 March 2024, n. 55692.

Below is the text of Mase’s question and opinion.

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Environmental question from the Province of Lecco 22 March 2024, n. 55692

Subject: Environmental question, pursuant to art. 3 septies of Legislative Decree 152/2006, regarding the correct interpretation of the art. 26 bis of Legislative Decree 152/2006 relating to the preliminary phase of the single regional authorization provision.

Pursuant to the legislation cited in question, the Provinces can send general requests to this Ministry on the application of state legislation on environmental matters.

In particular, this question is posed in order to clarify the level of project documentation that must be presented to the competent authority for the purposes of calling the preliminary services conference for the preliminary phase to the single regional authorization provision, governed by art. 26-bis of Legislative Decree 152/2006.

According to this regulatory provision, for the purposes of the preliminary phase to the single regional authorization provision, the project documentation that the proponent must send to the competent authority must have “a level of detail equivalent to the technical and economic feasibility project referred to in Article 23 of the legislative decree 18 April 2016, n. 50”.

The art. 226 of Legislative Decree 36/2023 repealed Legislative Decree 50/2016, with effect from 1 July 2023; The new formulation of the technical-economic feasibility project provides different contents (in many aspects more in-depth) compared to the same project level referred to in the previous Legislative Decree 50/2016 (see art. 41 – paragraph 6 of Legislative Decree 36 /2023 and Section II of Annex I.7).

In light of the above, given the current wording referred to in point 1b of the art. 26-bis of Legislative Decree 152/2006, we ask whether it is correct to refer to the level of in-depth analysis currently required by Legislative Decree 36/2023 for the technical-economic feasibility project for the purposes of completing the preliminary phase single regional authorization provision, considering that this project level would seem excessively detailed compared to the purpose of the preliminary conference referred to in the aforementioned art. 26-bis, requiring premature design insights for a preliminary phase and which in the repealed Legislative Decree 50/2016 were typical of a definitive design level.

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Opinion of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security 19 April 2024, n. 74828

Subject: Question on environmental matters pursuant to art. 3-septies d. legislative decree 152/2006. Interpretation of the art. 26-bis of the legislative decree lgs. 152/2006 relating to the preliminary phase of the single regional authorization provision. Ref. vs. prot. note 16884/2024

With the note in question, acquired under protocol MASE/55692 dated 03.22.2024, this Province presented a request for an environmental ruling pursuant to art. 3-septies of the Legislative Decree. 152/2006, asking the undersigned for an opinion regarding “the level of project documentation that must be presented to the competent authority for the purposes of calling the preliminary services conference for the preliminary phase to the single regional authorization provision, governed by art. 26-bis of Legislative Decree 152/2006”.

In particular – given the reference contained in the aforementioned article 26-bis paragraph 1 letter. b) to a “project having a level of detail equivalent to the technical and economic feasibility project referred to in Article 23 of Legislative Decree 18 April 2016, n. 50” and, in light of the new formulation of the aforementioned project level, introduced by art. 41 paragraph 6 of the legislative decree legislative decree 31 March 2023, n. 36 – wonders whether it is correct to refer to the level of detail currently provided for in the last-mentioned decree.

The D. Legislative Decree 36/2023, in force from 1 July 2023, has repealed the provisions contained in the Legislative Decree. lgs. 50/2016 and provided that the design can be divided into only two levels of technical analysis: the technical-economic feasibility project and the executive project. Therefore, the reference contained in the art. 26-bis, by virtue of the tempus regit actum principle, is considered to refer to the new regulatory provisions.

In this regard, it is worth highlighting that, although the contents of the technical-economic feasibility project, as indicated in Annex I.7, are different from the previous provisions, from the comparison between paragraph 1 of article 41 of the new code and paragraph 1 of article 23 of the repealed legislative decree no. 50/2016, it is clear that the purposes that must be ensured are common to all levels of design, albeit with a different level of detail.

As far as is of interest here, in line with the aforementioned objectives, the preliminary phase to the single regional provision, for projects subjected to environmental impact assessment under regional jurisdiction, constitutes an important facilitation tool for the subsequent PAUR procedure, as allows you to start this environmental audit having already agreed with the competent parties the methods and topics to be explored in greater detail.

In fact, the decisions taken at the preliminary conference can be modified, at the PAUR stage, only in the presence of “significant elements emerging in the subsequent proceedings”, to be specifically motivated.