Machine Translated by Google CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Law 21/2013, of December 9, on environmental evaluation. head of state «BOE» no. 296, of December 11, 2013 Reference: BOE-A-2013-12913 INDEX Preamble .................................................. ............... 6 TITLE I. General principles and provisions................................................. . fifteen Article 1. Object and purpose. ................................................ fifteen Article 2. Principles of environmental assessment. .................................... fifteen Article 3. Action and relations between Public Administrations. ........................ 16 Article 4. Cooperation within the framework of the Sectorial Conference on the Environment.................. 16 Article 5. Definitions. ................................................................ ..16 Article 6. Scope of application of the strategic environmental assessment. ........................... 19 Article 7. Scope of application of the environmental impact assessment. ..................... twenty Article 8. Assumptions excluded from environmental assessment and excludable projects.............. 20 Article 9. General obligations.................................................... . twenty-one Article 10. Failure to issue environmental declarations and reports. ................... 22 Article 11. Determination of the environmental body and the substantive body. .................... 22 Article 12. Resolution of discrepancies. ........................................ 23 Article 13. Relationship between strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment. . . 23 Article 14. Relationship between the environmental impact assessment and the integrated environmental authorization. . . 23 Article 15. Confidentiality. ................................................ 23 Article 16. Technical capacity and responsibility of the author of environmental studies and documents. . 24 TITLE II. Environmental evaluation ................................................ ..... 24 Page 1 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION CHAPTER I. Strategic environmental assessment ........................................... 24 Section 1 Procedure of the regular strategic environmental assessment for the formulation of the strategic environmental statement ................................................ 24 Article 17. Procedures and deadlines for the regular strategic environmental assessment. ................ 24 Article 18. Request to start the ordinary strategic environmental evaluation. ................. 24 Article 19. Consultations with affected public administrations and interested persons, and preparation of the scope document of the strategic environmental study. .................. 25 Article 20. Strategic environmental study. ......................................... 26 Article 21. Initial version of the plan or program and public information. ...................... 26 Article 22. Consultation with affected public administrations and interested persons. ....... 26 Article 23. Final proposal of plan or program. ........................................... 27 Article 24. Technical analysis of the file. ....................................... 27 Article 25. Strategic environmental declaration. ........................................... 28 Article 26. Publicity of the adoption or approval of the plan or program. ...................... 28 Article 27. Validity of the strategic environmental declaration................................... 28 Article 28. Modification of the strategic environmental declaration. ............................ 29 Section 2 Simplified strategic environmental assessment procedure for the issuance of the report strategic environmental ................................................ .......30 Article 29. Request to start the simplified strategic environmental assessment. ..............30 Article 30. Consultations with affected public administrations and interested persons. ......31 Article 31. Strategic environmental report. ......................................... 31 Article 32. Publicity of the adoption or approval of the plan or program. .................... 32 CHAPTER II. Environmental impact assessment of projects.................................... 32 Section 1 ordinary environmental impact assessment procedure for the formulation of the environmental impact statement ................................................ .32 Article 33. Procedures and deadlines for the ordinary environmental impact assessment. ................ 32 Article 34. Preliminary actions: consultations with affected public administrations and people stakeholders and preparation of the scope document of the environmental impact study. ......... 32 Article 35. Environmental impact study. ........................................ 3. 4 Article 36. Public information on the project and the environmental impact study. ...............35 Article 37. Consultation with affected public administrations and interested persons. .......35 Article 38. Modification of the project or the environmental impact study and new process of public information and inquiries. ........................................... 36 Article 39. Ordinary environmental impact assessment. .......................... 37 Page 2 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Article 40. Technical analysis of the file. ................................................ 37 Article 41. Environmental impact statement. ........................................... 39 Article 42. Authorization of the project and publicity. ................................. 40 Article 43. Validity of the environmental impact statement................................... 40 Article 44. Modification of the conditions of the environmental impact statement. ............. 41 Section 2. Simplified environmental impact assessment .................................... 42 Article 45. Request to start the simplified environmental impact assessment. ..............42 Article 46. Consultations with affected public administrations and interested persons. ......44 Article 47. Environmental impact report. ......................................... 44 Article 48. Authorization of the project and publicity. .................................. Four. Five CHAPTER III. Cross-border consultations ............................................. 46 Article 49. Consultations with other States in environmental assessment procedures. ........... 46 Article 50. Consultations of other States in their environmental assessment procedures. .......... 47 TITLE III. Monitoring and sanctioning regime ........................................... 48 CHAPTER I. Follow-up ................................................ .......... 48 Article 51. Monitoring of strategic environmental declarations and environmental reports strategic. ........................................................... .......48 Article 52. Monitoring of environmental impact statements and impact reports environmental. ................................................................ ......... 48 CHAPTER II. Sanctions regime................................................ 49 Article 53. Sanctioning power. ............................................ 49 Article 54. Subjects responsible for the infractions.................................. 49 Article 55. Offenses in the field of environmental impact assessment. .................... 49 Article 56. Sanctions corresponding to infractions in terms of impact assessment environmental. ................................................................ ......... 50 Article 57. Concurrence of sanctions. ......................................... 51 CHAPTER III. Penalty procedure..................................... 51 Article 58. Initiation. ........................................................... ... 51 Article 59. Provisional measures. ................................................ 52 Article 60. Instruction. ................................................................ ..52 Article 61. Evidence. ................................................................ ....52 Article 62. Resolution proposal. ........................................... 52 Article 63. Hearing.............................................. ........ 53 Page 3 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Article 64. Resolution. ................................................................ ..53 Additional Provisions .................................................. ...... 53 First additional provision. Evaluation of projects subject to responsible declaration or prior communication. ................................................................ ..53 Second additional provision. Plans and programs co-financed by the European Union. .......... 54 Third additional provision. Information obligations. ............................. 54 Fourth additional provision. Relation of the environmental evaluation with other norms. ............. 54 Fifth additional provision. Concurrence and hierarchy of plans or programs.............. 54 Sixth additional provision. State-owned infrastructures. ......................... 55 Seventh additional provision. Environmental evaluation of the plans, programs and projects that may affect areas of the Natura 2000 Network.................................................. 55 Eighth additional provision. Nature conservation banks. ...................... 55 Ninth additional provision. Certifications on environmental assessments. ................ 56 Tenth additional provision. periodic operations. ................................. 56 Eleventh additional provision. Accumulation of environmental impact assessment procedures. . 57 Twelfth additional provision. Supplementary regime. ................................ 57 Thirteenth additional provision. Electronic processing..................... 57 Fourteenth additional provision. Records for the identification of interested persons...... 57 Fifteenth additional provision. Operating rules for the Tajo-Segura Transfer. ............ 57 Sixteenth additional provision. Evaluations in execution of final judgment. ..............59 Seventeenth additional provision. Military installations. ............................ 59 Eighteenth additional provision. Nuclear and radioactive facilities. .................... 60 Nineteenth additional provision. Prioritization of power generation project files from renewable sources. ........................................... 60 Transitory dispositions ................................................ ...... 60 First transitional provision. Transitional Regime................................... 60 Second transitory provision. Transitional regime of the modification of Law 10/2001, of July 5, of the National Hydrological Plan. ......................................... 61 Repealing provisions ........................................................... ..... 61 Unique derogatory provision. Regulatory repeal................................... 61 Final provisions .................................................. ......... 62 First final provision. Modification of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and of Biodiversity. ........................................................... ... 62 Page 4 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Second final provision. Modification of Law 52/1980, of October 16, on the economic regime of exploitation of the Tajo-Segura aqueduct. ................................................ 63 Third final provision. Modification of Law 10/2001, of July 5, of the National Hydrological Plan:. . 63 Fourth final provision. Modification of Royal Legislative Decree 1/2001, of July 20, by which approves the Consolidated Text of the Water Law. ........................................... 64 Fifth final provision. Modification of Law 11/2005, of June 22, which modifies the Law 10/2001, of July 5, of the National Hydrological Plan. .......................... 64 Sixth final provision. Incorporation of European Union Law.................................. 65 Seventh final provision. Relations between environmental assessment and sectoral legislation.............. 65 Eighth final provision. Competence titles. ........................................... 65 Ninth final provision. Development Authorization. ........................................... 66 Final provision ten. Entry into force..................................... 66 Final provision eleven. Entry into force in relation to regional development regulations.... 66 ANNEX I. Projects subject to ordinary environmental assessment regulated in title II, chapter II, section 1. 66 ANNEX II. Projects subject to the simplified environmental evaluation regulated in title II, chapter II, section 2nd ..................................................... ....................... 72 ANNEX III. Criteria mentioned in article 47.2 to determine if a project in annex II must be submitted to ordinary environmental impact assessment................................................... 77 ANNEX IV. Content of the strategic environmental study ........................................... 78 ANNEX V. Criteria mentioned in article 31 to determine if a plan or program must be submitted to regular strategic environmental assessment ........................................... 78 ANNEX VI. Environmental impact study, technical concepts and specifications relating to the works, installations or activities included in Annexes I and II................................... 79 Page 5 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION CONSOLIDATED TEXT Last Modified: March 30, 2022 JUAN CARLOS I KING OF SPAIN All those who were present saw and understood. Know: That the Cortes Generales have approved and I come to sanction the following law: PREAMBLE Environmental assessment is essential for the protection of the environment. It facilitates the incorporation of sustainability criteria in strategic decision-making, through the evaluation of plans and programs. And through the evaluation of projects, it guarantees adequate prevention of the specific environmental impacts that may be generated, while establishing effective correction or compensation mechanisms. Environmental assessment is a fully consolidated instrument that accompanies development, ensuring that it is sustainable and inclusive. At the international level, through the Agreement on environmental impact assessment, in a cross-border context, of February 25, 1991, known as the Espoo Convention and ratified by our country on September 1, 1992, and its Protocol on assessment environmental strategy, ratified on June 24, 2009. In community law, by Directive 2001/42/CE, of June 27, on the assessment of the impact of certain plans and programs on the environment, and by Directive 2011 /92/UE, of December 13, of evaluation of the repercussions of certain public and private projects on the environment, which this law transposes to the internal legal system. The fact that the European Landscape Convention, ratified on November 26, 2007, is already fully applicable in Spain deserves special mention, so it should be applied both in the environmental impact assessment and in the strategic environmental assessment. This reform is in line with the principles that encourage the review of community regulations on the environmental assessment of projects. In addition, taking this circumstance into account, the necessary mechanisms are foreseen for a rapid adaptation of the technical contents resulting from the future European reform. The law brings together in a single text the legal regime for the evaluation of plans, programs and projects, and establishes a set of common provisions that approximate and facilitate the application of both regulations. This law is based on the experience accumulated in the twenty-five years of application, in Spain, of environmental assessment. During this time, consideration of the environmental impacts of projects, first, and of plans and programs, later, has emerged as a useful tool to ensure the sustainability of economic development. However, in this long period, important malfunctions and technical deficiencies have also been appreciated that it is important to correct without delay. Examples of these insufficiencies are the delay in issuing some environmental impact statements, or the diversity of regulations (sometimes without environmental justification) that can distort the preventive effects of the environmental assessment procedure. The technical improvements incorporated in this legal text are based on the greater experience acquired and the better awareness of where and how impacts are usually produced and the best way to mitigate them. In Spain, the effectiveness of environmental assessment requires establishing a procedure that is common throughout the national territory, without prejudice to the constitutional power that the autonomous communities have to establish additional protection standards. Page 6 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION In this line, it is worth mentioning the detailed report of the Economic and Social Council of 2012 entitled «Autonomous development, competitiveness and social cohesion. Environment", in which it is stated, with regard to environmental impact assessment, that on occasions the same activity may be governed by more or less severe impact thresholds, or even be subject to an assessment in some communities and excluded in others. others. The report proposes that "within the framework of the Sectorial Conference on the Environment, the harmonization of the regional administrative procedures currently in force should be promoted, in order to simplify procedures, reduce the administrative burdens borne by companies, and avoid differences unjustified in the levels of environmental demand of the Autonomous Communities». The need for effective vertical coordination between the different levels of government has been highlighted in different places: by the OECD ("Sustainability in Impact Assessments. A review of Impact Assessment Systems in selected OECD countries and the European Commission, 2012" ), or by the European Commission ("Industrial Performance Scoreboard and Member's States"). This latest report points out that the proliferation of different regulations is an obstacle to improving productivity, warnings that should be related to the place occupied by Spain, ranked 44th, in the World Bank's classification of countries according to their ease of doing business (“Doing Business, 2012”). In accordance with these premises, this law aims to be an effective instrument for environmental protection. To achieve this primary objective, it is proposed to simplify the environmental assessment procedure, increase the legal certainty of the operators, and closely related to this last goal, achieve agreement on the regulations on environmental assessment throughout the national territory. Through this project, as previously announced, two provisions are unified into a single standard: Law 9/2006, of April 28, on the evaluation of the effects of certain plans and programs on the environment and Royal Legislative Decree 1/ 2008, of January 11, approving the revised text of the Environmental Impact Assessment Law for projects and subsequent modifications to the aforementioned revised text. The law establishes a similar scheme for both procedures –strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment– and unifies the terminology. In addition, these procedures are regulated exhaustively, which provides two advantages: on the one hand, it can serve as an incentive for the autonomous communities to adopt them in their area of competence, without further modifications than those strictly necessary to attend to their peculiarities, and on the other hand, it makes the regulatory development of the law not essential. Likewise, this law increases the legal certainty of the promoters. The establishment of some principles to which the environmental evaluation must be submitted and the call for cooperation within the framework of the Sectoral Conference on the Environment will determine the development of homogeneous legislation throughout the national territory, which will allow promoters to know in advance what will be the legal requirements of an environmental nature required for the processing of a plan, program or project, regardless of the place where you intend to develop it. In accordance with these principles, it should be emphasized that all the annexes that are incorporated into the law are basic legislation and, therefore, of general application. The legislator, aware of the importance of agreeing on the environmental evaluation procedures that exist in our country, introduces a new mechanism of entry into force, provided for in its repealing provision and its tenth final provision, for what affects its aspects of basic legislation and regarding the Autonomous Communities that have their own regulations on environmental assessment. Thus, a period of one year is granted so that the Autonomous Communities can adapt their regulations to this law. However, if before the end of that period any Autonomous Community adjusts its regulations, it will enter into force at that time. In any case, even if they have not made the appropriate adaptation, this law will be applied, as basic legislation, within a period of one year from its entry into force. Lastly, the existence of a common legal framework –with the strictly necessary specificities in each autonomous community– will prevent relocation processes. Page 7 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION In terms of the environment, the basic state regulation and the regional development regulation must ensure, by imperative of article 45 of the Constitution, the protection and preservation of the environment, for which a basic and common framework is absolutely essential. This law is based on the exclusive competence of the State in terms of basic legislation on environmental protection, without prejudice to the powers of the autonomous communities to establish additional protection regulations (article 149.1.23.ª of the Constitution). II The law consists of 64 articles distributed in three titles: title I contains the principles and general provisions, title II the regulatory provisions of environmental assessment procedures and, finally, title III regulates the monitoring and sanctioning regime. Title I establishes the principles and provisions of a general nature, applicable both strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment. The principles contemplated in the law are not established ex novo, but rather pre-exist in the community and national legal systems. However, its explicit inclusion in the standard has been considered convenient so that they are very present, summarized and compiled in this way, at the time of adopting decisions on environmental assessment and especially so that the autonomous communities take them into consideration if they decide to make use of the constitutional authorization that allows them to adopt additional regulations for the protection of the environment. The aforementioned principles are the protection and improvement of the environment; preventive and precautionary action: prevention and correction and compensation of impacts on the environment; whoever pollutes pays; rationalization; simplification and coordination of environmental evaluation procedures; cooperation and coordination between the General State Administration and the autonomous communities, proportionality between the effects on the environment of the plans, programs and projects and the type of evaluation procedure to which, where appropriate, they must be submitted, active collaboration of the different administrative bodies involved in the evaluation procedure, providing the necessary information that is required, public participation, sustainable development and integration of environmental aspects in decision-making. In order for the legislation on environmental assessment to be inspired by these principles and to achieve a high degree of homogeneity between the regulations applicable in the different parts of the national territory, the law calls for cooperation within the framework of the Sectorial Environment Conference , which will analyze and propose the necessary regulatory changes to comply with the law and, in particular, to promote the necessary regulatory changes and reforms that may consist of the modification, repeal or recasting of existing regional regulations, or referral to this law, with the exceptions required by its organizational particularities. Within it, working groups of a technical nature may be formed to prepare methodological guides for environmental assessment that allow the standardization of these procedures. This title I also regulates general issues such as the object and purpose of the standard; the definitions; the scope of application; assumptions excluded from the environmental assessment and exceptable projects; the general mandate to submit to environmental assessment the plans, programs and projects included in the scope of application; the legal consequence of the failure to issue environmental declarations and reports and other issues such as the determination of the environmental body; the relationship between administrations; the relationship between strategic assessment and environmental impact assessment; the relationship between this and the integrated environmental authorization contained in Law 16/2002, of July 1, on integrated pollution prevention and control; the confidentiality and the technical capacity and responsibility of the author of the environmental studies and documents. In terms of relations between administrations and as a consequence of the consideration of the environmental assessment as an instrumental procedure with respect to the substantive procedure, it has been considered necessary to establish that the substantive body inform the environmental body of any incident that occurs during the processing. page 8 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION of the procedure for the adoption, approval or authorization of a plan, program or project that is relevant for the purposes of processing environmental assessment procedures, particularly those that involve the filing or expiration of the substantive procedure. This prevents the environmental body from continuing with unnecessary processing. The main obligation established by law is to submit to an adequate environmental evaluation any plan, program or project that may have significant effects on the environment, before its adoption, approval or authorization, or, if applicable, in the case of projects, before the presentation of a responsible statement or prior communication referred to in article 71 bis of Law 30/1992, of November 26, on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and Common Administrative Procedure. The legal consequence derived from the breach of this obligation, expressly indicated in the law itself, is that the acts of adoption, approval or authorization of the plans, programs and projects will lack validity, or in its case, when the responsible declaration or the prior communication regarding a project that, being included in the scope of application of this law, has not been submitted to environmental evaluation, without prejudice to the sanctions that, if applicable, may correspond. This preventive aspect, essential and inherent to the law, is reinforced by the express mention of the legal consequences of the lack of pronouncement in environmental procedures – in coherence with community and national law and jurisprudence–. In accordance with this regulation, the lack of issuance of the strategic environmental statement, the strategic environmental report, the environmental impact statement or the environmental impact report, within the legally established deadlines, can in no case be understood as equivalent to an evaluation favorable environment. The definitions have been established with the necessary and sufficient level of detail to clarify the concepts of the articles. In order to facilitate their use, they have been divided into three sections: general definitions, definitions for the purposes of strategic environmental assessment and definitions for the purposes of environmental impact assessment. As a novelty, it should be noted that for the first time the legal nature of both environmental procedures and environmental pronouncements is defined, in accordance with the consolidated jurisprudence in this regard during the years of validity of this legislation. As regards the former, the strategic environmental assessment and the environmental impact assessment are classified as an "instrumental administrative procedure" with respect to the substantive and sectoral procedure for the approval or adoption of plans and programs or the authorization of projects. . For their part, the environmental statements, that is, the strategic environmental statement, the strategic environmental report, the environmental impact statement and the environmental impact report, have the legal nature of a mandatory and determining report. The determining nature of environmental pronouncements is manifested in a double aspect, formal and material. From the formal or procedural point of view, the determining nature of environmental pronouncements implies that it is not possible to continue with the processing of the substantive procedure as long as it is not evacuated. From the material point of view, that is, in terms of linking its content to the body that decides, the determining nature of a report supposes, in accordance with recent jurisprudence, that the report is necessary for the competent body to decide opinion can be formed on the issues to which the report itself refers. This determining nature materializes in the mechanism provided for in this law for the resolution of discrepancies, so that the substantive body is determined by the conditioning of the environmental pronouncements, being able to depart for reasons only within the scope of its powers and raising the corresponding discrepancy before the Council of Ministers or the Council of Government of the corresponding autonomous community, or where appropriate, the one that said community has determined. The environmental pronouncements themselves will not be appealable, although they will be, as it cannot be otherwise if you want to avoid defenselessness, the pronouncements of the substantive body by virtue of which the plans or programs are approved or adopted or authorize the projects, in which the environmental pronouncements are incorporated. Page 9 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION One of the essential pieces of the environmental evaluation is the consultation with the affected public administrations. In order to avoid delays that are not justified from the environmental point of view and to ensure that the procedure is effective, the lack of a statement by the affected public administrations cannot, in any way, slow down, and even less paralyze the procedure, which may continue as long as and when the environmental body has sufficient evidence to carry out the environmental assessment. In the event that the affected public administrations do not issue their reports, or if these are not sufficient, the law provides that the environmental body requires the head of the body hierarchically superior to the one that would have to issue the report, so that within the period of ten days, counted from the receipt of the request, order the competent body to deliver the corresponding report within ten days, without prejudice to the responsibilities that the person responsible for the delay may incur and the possibility that the promoter has to claim from the competent Administration the issuance of the report, through the procedure provided for in article 29.1 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, on the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction. It is also noteworthy that two procedures are designed for both the strategic environmental assessment and the environmental impact assessment: the ordinary and the simplified. The terminology used is very widespread and consolidated in the autonomous communities and emphasizes the essentially procedural nature of the rule. The reasons that have led to this distinction are found in the community directives themselves, which require a prior environmental assessment of any plan, program or project "that may have significant effects on the environment". For certain types of plans, programs or projects, the directives establish the iuris et de iure presumption that, in any case, they will have significant effects on the environment and, therefore, they must be evaluated before their approval, adoption or authorization, in according to the normal procedure. For the remaining plans, programs and projects, each Member State must carry out an analysis, either on a case-by-case basis, using thresholds or combining both techniques, to determine if they have significant effects on the environment. This analysis is what has been called the simplified evaluation procedure and if it is concluded that the plan, program or project has significant effects on the environment, an ordinary evaluation must be carried out. In this way, correct compliance with community directives is guaranteed, according to the interpretation made by the Court of Justice of the European Union. With regard to the maximum terms, the following are established: ordinary strategic evaluation: twenty-two months, extendable for two more months for duly motivated justified reasons; simplified strategic environmental assessment: four months; Ordinary environmental impact assessment: four months, extendable for two more months for duly motivated justified reasons; and simplified environmental impact assessment: three months. Regarding the scope of application of the law, no substantial modifications have been introduced in relation to the laws that are now repealed, since this scope is clearly delimited in the community directives, for which reason it has not done more than maintain the transposition that of they were made However, certain headings of annexes I and II of the revised text of the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment of projects, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1, have been incorporated into the scope of application of this law, due to regulatory technical issues. /2008, of January 11. Likewise, the possibility has been included for projects subject to simplified environmental impact assessment to be submitted to the ordinary procedure when so requested by the promoter. In terms of powers and administrative coordination, the law tries to clarify some shared administrative actions provided for in the previous regulations. Regarding the relationship between strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment, it should be noted that, in accordance with community directives, the former does not exclude the latter, so that the previous regulation is maintained. Likewise, the article on the relationship between the environmental impact assessment and the authorization is maintained. Page 10 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION integrated environmental protection, since this regulation is contained in Law 16/2002, of July 1, on integrated pollution prevention and control. As a novelty, the regulation of the confidentiality that public administrations must maintain in relation to certain documentation provided by the promoter is included. In this way, many problems that arise with requests for access to documents of procedures not yet completed will be solved when applying Law 27/2006, of July 18, which regulates the rights of access to information, participation and access to justice in environmental matters. Finally, it includes the requirement that the documents presented by the promoters during the environmental assessment be carried out by people who have sufficient technical capacity, which will allow maintaining a high level of technical quality of said documents. Title II is dedicated, in separate chapters, to strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment, establishing a regulation of a basic nature, applicable, therefore, to the entire territory of the State with the exceptions established in the eighth final provision, that determines the articles that do not have a basic character. Regardless of whether the substantive body may resolve, in accordance with sectoral legislation, the merely formal inadmissibility of the request for adoption, approval or authorization of the plan, program or project if the promoter had not submitted the complete file, the law also regulates a process of inadmissibility of a substantive or material nature, whose purpose is for the promoters to know, from a very preliminary stage of the procedure, that there are well- founded reasons to understand that the plan, program or project may not have a favorable environmental declaration, for environmental reasons, or when the environmental studies do not meet sufficient quality conditions appreciated, or when an unfavorable environmental declaration has been inadmissible or issued in a plan, program or project similar to the one presented. This resolution of inadmissibility declared by the environmental body affects exclusively the request to start the environmental assessment – both strategic and impact, and both ordinary and simplified – and is issued without prejudice to what is resolved by the substantive body, in accordance with the sectoral legislation, on the request for adoption, approval or authorization of the plan, program or project. Although the community directives do not require this, but with the anticipation that it will soon be a community mandate, and in any case because it is understood to be an unavoidable reference, the law introduces the obligation to take into account climate change, for which , as it cannot be otherwise, the information and techniques that are available at all times must be used. Chapter I of this title II contains the provisions relating to strategic environmental assessment, regulating the ordinary and simplified procedures mentioned above and specifying some issues of Law 9/2006, of April 28, which had been difficult to interpret. This chapter I is divided into two sections dedicated, respectively, to the evaluation ordinary and simplified strategic environmental In section 1 an attempt has been made to systematize the ordinary procedure, following a chronological order that makes it easier for promoters to apply this law. Likewise, an attempt has been made to assimilate the terminology of strategic environmental assessment with that used in environmental impact assessment, older and already consolidated in our legal system. In this way, the environmental sustainability report that was regulated by Law 9/2006, of April 28, is now called the strategic environmental study, while the environmental report becomes, by virtue of this law, the strategic environmental declaration, similar to, respectively, the environmental impact study and the environmental impact statement. The consultations with the affected administrations are essential for determining the scope and content that the strategic environmental study must have and for this reason they are complied with in the community directive for the environmental evaluation of plans and programs, and as it cannot be otherwise way, in the law itself. In order to achieve a correct integration of environmental aspects in planning, the regulation orders that the successive versions of a plan or program – draft, initial version and Page 11 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION final proposal – incorporate the content of the corresponding previous environmental document – initial strategic document, strategic environmental study and strategic environmental statement. The ordinary strategic environmental assessment procedure ends with the strategic environmental declaration, a pronouncement by the environmental body which, as already noted, has the legal nature of a mandatory and determining report, will not be subject to appeal and must be published in the "Official Gazette". del Estado” or corresponding official gazette, without prejudice to its publication in the electronic headquarters of the environmental body. This section concludes with the regulation, ex novo and in parallel with the one established for the environmental impact assessment, of the validity of the strategic environmental declaration and the procedure for its modification, and with the resolution of discrepancies, which it is attributed, in the scope of the General State Administration, to the Council of Ministers, and in the scope of the autonomous communities, to the Governing Council or to the body determined by them. Section 2 regulates the simplified strategic environmental assessment procedure, which includes as a novelty the prior admission for processing, continues with the consultations with the affected administrations and concludes with a strategic environmental report, which can determine whether the plan or program has significant effects on the environment, and therefore must be submitted to an ordinary strategic evaluation, or that the plan or program does not have significant effects on the environment and, therefore, can be adopted or approved under the terms established in the report itself . In the event that the strategic environmental report concludes that it is necessary to carry out an ordinary strategic environmental assessment, it is expressly regulated and for the first time that the actions carried out in the simplified procedure will be preserved. Chapter II of this title II regulates the environmental impact assessment of projects with a greater degree of detail than the previous law did, providing greater legal certainty. It may be, like the strategic, ordinary or simplified. Section 1 regulates the ordinary environmental impact assessment procedure, which is applied to the projects listed in Annex I, including some novelties in view of the experience acquired and the problems diagnosed. The procedure itself begins when the substantive body sends the complete file to the environmental body, which includes the project, the environmental impact study and the result of public information and consultations with the affected public administrations and interested persons. However, prior to the procedure, a series of procedures must be carried out, some mandatory and others of an optional nature. The first of these preliminary procedures is the determination of the scope of the environmental impact study which, as a novelty in this law, will be voluntary for the promoter, as contemplated in Directive 2011/92/EU, of the European Parliament and of the Council, December 13. Next, and once the promoter has prepared the environmental impact study, the substantive body must carry out, on this occasion on a mandatory basis, the procedures for public information and consultation with the affected administrations and interested persons. The law establishes, for the first time, that the report of the body with competence in environmental matters of the autonomous community, the report of the basin organization, the report on cultural heritage and, where appropriate, the report on terrestrial maritime public domain. The ordinary environmental impact assessment itself is carried out in three phases: initiation, technical analysis and environmental impact statement. Once the file is admitted and after its technical analysis, the procedure ends with the resolution formulating the environmental impact statement, which will determine whether or not to carry out the project for environmental purposes and, where appropriate, the environmental conditions in those that can be developed, the corrective measures for the negative environmental effects and, if applicable, the compensatory measures for the aforementioned negative environmental effects. In addition, the minimum content of the environmental impact statement is regulated in greater detail and its publication is foreseen not only in official gazettes but also in the electronic headquarters of the environmental body. Page 12 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION As has already been stated of the other environmental pronouncements, the environmental impact statement has the legal nature of a mandatory and decisive report, it will not be appealable and must be published in the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette. This section concludes with the regulation of the validity of the impact statement and the procedure for its modification, and with the resolution of discrepancies, which is attributed to the Council of Ministers or the Governing Council of the autonomous community or the body that it has determined. The validity of environmental impact statements has been one of the elements of the previous regulations whose application has undoubtedly generated the greatest difficulties. To solve this situation, it is considered that the relevant dates are the publication of the environmental impact statement to start the computation of the term of its validity and the start date of the execution of the project for its completion. Likewise, the possibility of extending the validity of the environmental impact statement for an additional period is foreseen. Finally, for the first time, the modification of the environmental conditions of an environmental impact statement is regulated, at the request of the developer, when certain circumstances occur. Section 2 of Chapter II regulates the simplified environmental impact assessment, to which the projects included in Annex II will be submitted, and the projects that, not being included in Annex I or in Annex II, may directly or indirectly affect to the Natura 2000 Network spaces. An essential step in this procedure, as in the others, is that of consultations, which must necessarily be carried out with the affected administrations, and as a novelty, the interested persons will also necessarily be consulted. The environmental body, taking into account the results of the consultations carried out, will resolve by issuing the environmental impact report, which must be published when the environmental body determines that the project should not be submitted to the ordinary environmental impact assessment procedure. It is noteworthy that the law indicates, expressly and for the first time, that if the simplified procedure concludes with the need to submit the project to the ordinary procedure, the actions carried out will be preserved, so it will not be necessary to carry out new consultations if the promoter decides to request the administration that determines the scope and content of the environmental impact study. Chapter III regulates cross-border consultations, which must be carried out both when a plan, program or project to be executed in Spain may have significant effects on the environment in another Member State of the European Union or in another State to which Spain has obligation to consult under international instruments, such as when the reverse situation occurs, that is, when a plan, program or project to be executed in another State may have significant effects on the environment in Spain. III Title III regulates, in three separate chapters, the monitoring of plans and programs and environmental impact statements, which are attributed to the substantive body, the sanctioning regime and the sanctioning procedure, incorporating technical improvements to overcome some deficiencies of the previous one. law. On the regime and the sanctioning procedure (chapters II and III), this law regulates measures of a provisional nature, such as those essential that are applied prior to the initiation of the sanctioning procedure, with the limits and conditions established in article 72 of the Law 30/1992, of November 26, on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and Common Administrative Procedure. Likewise, the regulation of the provision related to the repair and compensation of damages is clarified in accordance with Law 26/2007, of 23 October, Environmental Responsibility. IV The final part is made up of fifteen additional provisions, two transitory provisions, one repealing provision, and eleven final provisions. Provisions Page 13 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION additional ones deal with: projects submitted to responsible declaration; or prior communication; plans and programs co-financed by the European Union; information obligations; relationship of environmental assessment with other standards; concurrence and hierarchy of plans or programs; state-owned infrastructures; environmental assessment of state projects that may affect Red Natura 2000 spaces; nature conservation banks; certificate of non-affectation to the Natura 2000 Network; periodic operations, accumulation of environmental impact assessment procedures; Supplementary application of Law 30/1992, of November 26, on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and Common Administrative Procedure and electronic processing. Nature conservation banks are a voluntary mechanism that allows net losses of natural values to be compensated, repaired or restored, which will be subject to regulatory development by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment. The credits generated in the nature conservation banks will be registered in an official registry under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment and may be marketed under free market conditions directly to: entities that require them in the field of any activity that produces an inevitable and irreparable net loss of natural values –especially in the case of compensatory measures for environmental impact, complementary remedial and compensatory remedial measures for environmental damage–; Non-profit entities; and the public administrations themselves. The purpose of the first final provision is the partial modification of the penalty regime included in Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. The law is accompanied by six annexes: the first and the second contain the list of projects that must be submitted, respectively, to an ordinary or simplified environmental impact assessment. To a large extent, the groups and categories of projects of the regulations up to now in force have been maintained, although technical improvements have been introduced and new types of projects have been incorporated to evaluate the use of new techniques, such as hydraulic fracturing. Likewise, the projects contemplated in the annexes have been adapted to the content of the Directive, so that those projects that can really have significant impacts on the environment are submitted to an ordinary environmental impact assessment. The third annex contains the criteria by which the environmental body must determine whether an Annex II project is to undergo a regular environmental assessment. The fourth annex details the content of the strategic environmental study; the fifth contains the criteria for determining whether a plan or program should be submitted to an ordinary strategic environmental assessment. Finally, annex VI details the content of the environmental impact study and the technical criteria for the interpretation of annexes I and II. Finally, the Law introduces a series of modifications related to inter-basin transfers, in general, and particularly, to the operation of the Tagus-Segura transfer, in this way, the specific regulations on the Tagus-Segura transfer are adapted to the general water legislation born in Spain from 1985. And legal certainty is granted to the general system. In addition to legal certainty, a security and technical stability mechanism is established by ordering the Government to update by royal decree the determining magnitudes of the rule of exploitation of the transfer. This is necessary to flexibly adapt these magnitudes to the hydrological variations observed in recent years and to have agile adaptation instruments to possible effects of hydrological alteration such as those induced by climate change. Giving the system excessive rigidity in these operational aspects can give rise to undesired effects that the planned mechanism makes it possible to avoid. The in-depth modification of the Water legislation will have to be faced, which will have to establish, among other things, a new regime for the transfer of rights, which will make it more efficient in the future. At this time, article 72 of the Consolidated Text of the Water Law is partially modified, with the aim of making its legal regime more flexible without prejudice to the specific regulation of each of the transfers. Page 14 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Likewise, it is necessary that, in the near future, the regulation of transfers between territorial areas of different basin management plans be incorporated into the National Hydrological Plan, as provided in the Consolidated Text of the Water Law itself. And in this context, the next Law of the National Hydrological Plan must integrate, harmonize and update in a single regulatory block, the provisions relating to all inter-basin transfers, which are scattered in different regulations. The first additional provision of Law 11/2005, of July 22, is repealed due to its manifest technical infeasibility, because the exchange of flows is not possible, given that the distribution networks of transferred resources and non-conventional resources do not overlap. nor do they provide the necessary cover for water exchange. On the other hand, the legal regime for transferred and non-conventional resources is completely different, not admitting the ordinary change of intake foreseen for concessions in the water legislation. In addition, the economic regime is also different, with very noticeable differences in costs, which prevent the mere substitution of one resource for another. TITLE I General principles and provisions Article 1. Object and purpose. 1. This law establishes the bases that should govern the environmental evaluation of plans, programs and projects that may have significant effects on the environment, guaranteeing throughout the State territory a high level of environmental protection, in order to promote a sustainable development, through: a) The integration of environmental aspects in the preparation and adoption, approval or authorization of plans, programs and projects; b) the analysis and selection of alternatives that are environmentally viable; c) the establishment of measures to prevent, correct and, where appropriate, offset adverse effects on the environment; d) the establishment of the necessary surveillance, follow-up and sanction measures to comply with the purposes of this law. 2. Likewise, this law establishes the principles that will inform the environmental evaluation procedure of the plans, programs and projects that may have significant effects on the environment, as well as the cooperation regime between the General Administration of the State and the autonomous communities to through the Sectorial Environment Conference. Article 2. Principles of environmental assessment. The environmental evaluation procedures will be subject to the following principles: a) Protection and improvement of the environment. b) Precaution and precautionary action. c) Preventive action, correction and compensation of impacts on the environment. d) The polluter pays. e) Rationalization, simplification and coordination of environmental assessment procedures. f) Cooperation and coordination between the General State Administration and the Autonomous Communities. g) Proportionality between the effects on the environment of the plans, programs and projects, and the type of evaluation procedure to which they must submit. h) Active collaboration of the different administrative bodies involved in the evaluation procedure, providing the necessary information required. i) Public participation. j) Sustainable development. Page 15 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION k) Integration of environmental aspects in decision-making. l) Action according to the best possible scientific knowledge. Article 3. Action and relations between Public Administrations. 1. The Public Administrations will adjust their actions in matters of environmental evaluation to the principles of institutional loyalty, coordination, mutual information, cooperation, collaboration and coherence. In particular, the Administrations that may be interested in the plan, program or project due to their specific environmental responsibilities or their regional or local powers will be consulted on the information provided by the promoter and on the request for adoption, approval or authorization of the plan, program or project. In accordance with the principles of rationalization and agility of administrative and cooperation, collaboration and coordination procedures, the consulted Public Administrations will issue the corresponding reports with the utmost diligence possible and, in any case, within the periods established for this purpose. When it corresponds to the General Administration of the State to formulate the strategic environmental declaration or the environmental impact declaration, or to issue the strategic environmental report or the environmental impact report regulated in this law, the body that holds the competences in matter of environment of the autonomous community affected by the plan, program or project. 2. The Public Administrations will guarantee that the environmental body and the substantive body exercise the functions derived from this law in an objective manner, and will apply in their organization an adequate separation of functions that may give rise to a conflict of interest when the environmental body be simultaneously the substantive body or the promoter of the plan, program or project. 3. When the substantive body is simultaneously the promoter of the plan, program or project, the substantive body will carry out the actions attributed to the promoter in this law. 4. The substantive body shall inform the environmental body of any incident that occurs during the processing of the substantive administrative procedure for the adoption, approval or authorization of a plan, program or project that is relevant for the purposes of processing the environmental assessment, specifically those that suppose the file or the expiration of the substantive procedure. Article 4. Cooperation within the framework of the Sectoral Conference on the Environment. 1. The Sectoral Conference on the Environment will analyze and propose the regulatory changes necessary to comply with the principles contained in this title and establish a homogeneous environmental assessment procedure throughout the national territory. 2. In particular, the Sectoral Conference will promote the necessary regulatory changes and reforms that may consist of the modification, repeal or recasting of the existing regional regulations, or the referral to this law, with the exceptions required by their organizational characteristics. 3. The Sectoral Conference may establish mechanisms to ensure that the Affected public administrations issue the reports provided for in this law on time. 4. Within the Sectorial Conference, working groups of a technical nature may be set up to prepare methodological guides for environmental assessment that allow the standardization of these procedures. Article 5. Definitions. 1. For the purposes of this law, the following shall be understood as: a) “Environmental Assessment”: process through which the significant effects that plans, programs and projects have or may have on the environment are analyzed before their adoption, approval or authorization, including in said analysis the effects of those on the following factors: population, human health, flora, fauna, biodiversity, geodiversity, land, soil, subsoil, air, water, climate, page 16 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION climate change, landscape, material goods, including cultural heritage, and the interaction between all the factors mentioned. Environmental assessment includes both strategic environmental assessment, which applies to plans or programs, and environmental impact assessment, which applies to projects. In both cases, the environmental assessment may be ordinary or simplified and will have an instrumental nature with respect to the administrative procedure for the approval or adoption of plans and programs, as well as with respect to the authorization of projects or, where appropriate, with respect to the administrative activity of control. of the projects submitted to responsible declaration or prior communication. b) “Significant impact or effect”: permanent or long-term alteration of one or several factors mentioned in letter a). In the case of Red Natura 2000 spaces: appreciable effects that can worsen the parameters that define the state of conservation of the habitats or species that are the object of conservation in the place or, where appropriate, the possibilities of their reestablishment. c) “Scope document”: pronouncement of the environmental body addressed to the developer whose purpose is to define the content, breadth, level of detail and degree of specification that the strategic environmental study and the environmental impact study must have. d) "Substantive body": body of the public Administration that holds the powers to adopt or approve a plan or program, to authorize a project, or to control the activity of projects subject to responsible declaration or prior communication, unless the project consists of different actions in matters whose competence is held by different bodies of the state, regional or local public administration, in which case, the substantive body will be considered the one that holds the powers over the activity to whose purpose the project is oriented, with priority over the bodies that hold powers over instrumental or complementary activities with respect to it. e) "Environmental body": body of the public Administration that prepares, where appropriate, the scope document, which performs the technical analysis of the environmental evaluation files and formulates the strategic environmental declarations, the strategic environmental reports, the declarations of environmental impact, and environmental impact reports. f) “Public”: any natural or legal person, as well as their associations, organizations or groups, constituted in accordance with the applicable regulations that do not meet the requirements to be considered interested persons. g) “Interested persons”: the following are considered interested persons for the purposes of this law: 1.º All those in which any of the circumstances provided for in article 4 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, of the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations concur. 2.º Any non-profit legal entity that, in accordance with Law 27/2006, of July 18, which regulates the rights of access to information, public participation and access to justice in matters of the environment (incorporates Directives 2003/4/CE and 2003/35/CE), meet the following requirements: i) That they have, among the purposes accredited in their statutes, the protection of the environment in general or that of any of its elements in particular, and that such purposes may be affected by the environmental assessment. ii) That they have been legally constituted for at least two years and have been exercising, active, the activities necessary to achieve the purposes set forth in its statutes. iii) That according to their statutes, they carry out their activity in a territorial area that is affected by the plan, program or project that must be submitted to environmental evaluation. h) “Affected Public Administrations”: those Public Administrations that have specific competences in the following matters: population, human health, biodiversity, geodiversity, fauna, flora, soil, subsoil, water, air, noise, climatic factors, landscape, material goods , cultural heritage, spatial planning and urban planning. Page 17 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION i) "Cultural heritage": concept that includes all meanings of this type of heritage, such as historical, artistic, architectural, archaeological, industrial and intangible. j) "Natura 2000 Network compensatory measures": the specific measures defined and regulated in article 3, sections 24 and 46, of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. k) "Compensatory measures": exceptional measures that are applied in the event of impacts residuals. l) "Technical analysis of the file": analysis whose purpose is to deduce the expected effects of the plans, programs and projects on the different factors subject to the environmental assessment, and propose the most appropriate measures for their prevention, correction or compensation, as well as their respective follow-ups. In particular, the quality, completeness and sufficiency of the environmental impact study will be analysed, if applicable, its conformity with the scope document, and how the result of the public information process, the consultations with the Public Administrations affected and interested persons and, where appropriate, the result of cross-border consultations. 2. For the purposes of the strategic environmental evaluation regulated in this law, it shall be understood as: a) “Promoter”: any natural or legal person, public or private, who intends to prepare a plan or program of those contemplated in the scope of application of this law, independently considered from the Administration that at the time is competent for its adoption. or approval. b) “Plans and programs”: the set of strategies, guidelines and proposals aimed at satisfying social needs, not executable directly, but through their development through one or several projects. c) "Strategic environmental study": study prepared by the promoter which, being an integral part of the plan or program, identifies, describes and analyzes the possible significant effects on the environment derived or that may derive from the application of the plan or program, as well as as reasonable alternatives, technically and environmentally viable, that take into account the objectives and the territorial scope of application of the plan or program, in order to prevent or correct the adverse effects on the environment of the application of the plan or program. d) "Strategic Environmental Statement": mandatory and determining report of the environmental body with which the ordinary strategic environmental evaluation ends and which pronounces on the integration of environmental aspects in the final proposal of the plan or program. e) “Strategic Environmental Report”: mandatory and decisive report of the body with which the simplified strategic environmental assessment ends. f) “Minor modifications”: changes in the characteristics of the plans or programs already adopted or approved that do not constitute fundamental variations of the strategies, guidelines and proposals or of their chronology but that produce differences in the anticipated effects or in the area of influence . 3. For the purposes of the environmental impact assessment of projects regulated in this law and without prejudice to the definitions contained in the regulations on nuclear and radioactive facilities, the following shall be understood as: a) "Promoter": any natural or legal person, public or private, who intends to carry out a project included in the scope of application of this law, regardless of the Administration that is competent for its authorization. b) “Project”: any planned action consisting of: 1st the execution, exploitation, dismantling or demolition of a work, a construction, or installation, or 2nd any intervention in the natural environment or in the landscape, including those aimed at the exploitation or use of natural resources or the soil and subsoil, as well as continental or marine waters. Page 18 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION c) "Environmental impact study": document prepared by the promoter that accompanies the project and identifies, describes, quantifies and analyzes the possible significant effects on the environment derived or that may derive from the project, as well as the vulnerability of the project to risks of serious accidents or catastrophes, the risk of such serious accidents or catastrophes occurring and the obligatory analysis of the probable significant adverse effects on the environment in the event of their occurrence. It also analyzes the various reasonable, technically and environmentally viable alternatives, and determines the necessary measures to prevent, correct and, where appropriate, compensate for adverse effects on the environment. d) “Environmental Impact Statement”: mandatory and determining report from the environmental body with which the ordinary environmental impact assessment ends, which evaluates the integration of environmental aspects in the project and determines the conditions that must be established for the adequate protection of the environment. environment and natural resources during the execution and exploitation and, where appropriate, the termination, dismantling or demolition of the project. e) “Environmental Impact Report”: mandatory and decisive report of the body with which the simplified environmental impact assessment ends. f) "Vulnerability of the project": physical characteristics of a project that may affect the possible significant adverse effects on the environment that may occur as a result of a serious accident or catastrophe. g) “Serious accident”: event, such as a large-scale emission, fire or explosion, resulting from an uncontrolled process during the execution, operation, dismantling or demolition of a project, which poses a serious danger, either immediate or deferred, for people or the environment. h) “Catastrophe”: event of natural origin, such as floods, sea level rise or earthquakes, unrelated to the project that causes great destruction or damage to people or the environment. Article 6. Scope of application of the strategic environmental assessment. 1. The plans and programs, as well as their modifications, that are adopted or approved by a public Administration and whose preparation and approval is required by a legal or regulatory provision or by agreement of the Council of Ministers or of the Governing Council of an autonomous community, when: a) Establish the framework for the future authorization of projects legally subject to environmental impact assessment and refer to agriculture, livestock, forestry, aquaculture, fishing, energy, mining, industry, transportation, waste management, water resources management, occupation of the terrestrial maritime public domain, use of the marine environment, telecommunications, tourism, planning of the urban and rural territory, or land use; O well, b) Require an evaluation for affecting Red Natura 2000 spaces in the terms provided in Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. c) Those included in section 2 when so decided on a case-by-case basis by the body in the strategic environmental report in accordance with the criteria in Annex V. d) The plans and programs included in section 2, when so determined by the environmental body, at the request of the promoter. 2. The following shall be subject to a simplified strategic environmental assessment: a) Minor modifications of the plans and programs mentioned in the previous section. b) The plans and programs mentioned in the previous section that establish the use, at the municipal level, of small areas. c) The plans and programs that, establishing a framework for authorization in the future of projects, do not meet the other requirements mentioned in the previous section. Page 19 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Article 7. Scope of application of the environmental impact assessment. 1. The following projects will be subject to an ordinary environmental impact assessment: a) Those included in Annex I, as well as the projects that, being divided, reach the thresholds of Annex I by accumulating the magnitudes or dimensions of each of the projects considered. b) Those included in section 2, when so decided on a case-by-case basis by the environment, in the environmental impact report in accordance with the criteria of Annex III. c) Any modification of the characteristics of a project listed in annex I or in annex II, when said modification meets, by itself, the thresholds established in annex I. d) The projects included in section 2, when requested by the promoter. 2. They will be subject to a simplified environmental impact assessment: a) The projects included in Annex II. b) Projects not included in Annex I or Annex II that may affect appreciable, directly or indirectly, to Natura 2000 Network Protected Areas. c) Any modification of the characteristics of a project in annex I or annex II, other than the modifications described in article 7.1.c) already authorized, executed or in the process of execution, which may have significant adverse effects on the environment . It will be understood that this modification may have significant adverse effects on the environment when it involves: 1st A significant increase in emissions into the atmosphere. 2nd A significant increase in discharges into public channels or the coast. 3rd Significant increase in waste generation. 4th A significant increase in the use of natural resources. 5th An affection to Protected Areas Red Natura 2000. 6th A significant effect on cultural heritage. d) Projects that, being divided, reach the thresholds of Annex II by accumulating the magnitudes or dimensions of each of the projects considered. e) The projects in annex I that serve exclusively or mainly to develop or test new methods or products, provided that the duration of the project does not exceed two years. Article 8. Cases excluded from environmental assessment and excludable projects. 1. The following plans and Software: a) Those whose sole purpose is national defense or civil protection in cases of emergency. b) Those of a financial or budgetary nature. 2. The substantive body may determine, on a case-by-case basis, that the environmental impact assessment will not be applied to projects or parts of projects whose sole objective is defense and to projects whose sole objective is response to cases of civil emergency. , when such application could have negative repercussions on said objectives. 3. Without prejudice to the provisions of article 49, the Council of Ministers, within the scope of the General State Administration, or where appropriate, the body determined by the legislation of each autonomous community, in its respective sphere of competence, may, at the proposal of the substantive body, in exceptional cases and by reasoned agreement, exclude a specific project from the environmental impact assessment, when its application may have detrimental effects for the purpose of the project or those projects that consist of repair or improvement works. of critical infrastructures, defined in Law 8/2011, of April 28, which establishes measures for the Page 20 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION protection of critical infrastructures, which have been damaged as a result of catastrophic events or whose reinforcement is necessary to guarantee national security. 4. In the cases provided for in the previous section, at the proposal of the substantive body, the Council of Ministers in the field of the General State Administration or, where appropriate, the body that determines the legislation of each autonomous community in its respective field. of competences, will decide in the exclusion agreement if it is appropriate to submit the project to another alternative form of evaluation that complies with the principles and objectives of this law, which will be carried out by the substantive body. The substantive body will publish the exclusion agreement and the reasons that justify it in the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette. Additionally, it will make available to the public the information related to the exclusion decision and the reasons that justify it, and the examination of the alternative forms of evaluation of the excluded project. The substantive body shall communicate the information provided for in the preceding paragraph to the European Commission, prior to the authorization of the project. 5. The possibilities of exclusion regulated in this article will not exempt the promoter from carrying out an evaluation of the repercussions on the Natura 2000 Network spaces, in the case of plans, programs and projects that, without being directly related to the management of the place or without be necessary for it, may appreciably affect the species or habitats of the aforementioned spaces, either individually or in combination with other plans, programs or projects. To do this, the promoter will prepare a report on the repercussions on the habitats and target species for conservation of the affected spaces, including the appropriate preventive, corrective and compensatory Natura 2000 Network measures for their maintenance in a favorable state of conservation, and a monitoring scheme. environment, and the substantive body shall necessarily consult the competent body in the management of the affected Natura 2000 Red spaces, to subsequently send the report together with the consultation to the environmental body, so that it determines, in view of the file, if the plan, program or project will cause damage to the integrity of any Natura 2000 Network space. If so, the procedure regulated by sections 4 to 7 of article 46 of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage will be substantiated. and Biodiversity. The approval of the project will expressly include the measures and the environmental monitoring program adopted. In cases of force majeure, reaction to catastrophes or serious accidents, part or all of the actions indicated in the previous paragraph may be carried out a posteriori, justifying said circumstances in the approval of the project. Article 9. General obligations. 1. The plans and programs included in the scope of application of this law must undergo an environmental assessment before their adoption or approval. Likewise, the projects included in the scope of application of this law that may have significant effects on the environment, by virtue, among other things, of their nature, dimensions or location, must undergo an environmental evaluation before their authorization, or well, if applicable, in the case of projects, before the presentation of a responsible declaration or a prior communication referred to in article 69 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, of the Common Administrative Procedure of the Public administrations. The acts of adoption, approval or authorization of the plans, programs and projects that, being included in the scope of application of this law, have not been subjected to environmental evaluation, will not be valid, without prejudice to the sanctions that, if applicable, may correspond. The environmental impact assessment regulated in title II of the projects included in article 7 of this law that are partially or totally executed without having previously submitted to the environmental impact assessment procedure will not be carried out. 2. When access to an activity or its exercise requires a responsible statement or prior communication and, in accordance with this law, requires an impact assessment Page 21 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION environmental impact statement, the responsible statement or the prior communication may not be submitted to the substantive body before the publication in the “Official State Gazette” or the corresponding official gazette of the environmental impact statement or the environmental impact report. Only after said publication, the substantive body, by means of a resolution, will admit the responsible declaration or previous communication. The responsible statement or prior communication relating to a project will lack validity and effectiveness for all purposes if it should have been subjected to an environmental assessment, but it would not have been, without prejudice to the sanctions that may apply. 3. In order to guarantee effective participation, the public information and consultation procedures for the affected Public Administrations and interested persons regulated by this law, will be carried out electronically and through public announcements or other appropriate means that guarantee the maximum dissemination to the public within the affected and neighboring municipalities. The Public Administrations, within the public information process, will adopt the necessary measures to guarantee that the pertinent information is accessible electronically by the public, through at least one central portal or simple access points, at the level of the corresponding territorial administration. 4. When the interested persons who must be consulted are unknown, the notification will be made by means of an announcement published in the “Official State Gazette” or corresponding official gazette. Additionally, in the environmental impact assessment procedures of projects, announcements will be published on the bulletin board, and where appropriate, on the website of the affected Town Halls. The period of exposure will be thirty business days. Once the consultation period has elapsed, the City Council will send the substantive body or, as the case may be, the environmental body, a public exhibition certificate stating the place and period in which the environmental documentation has been exposed. 5. The Public Administrations will guarantee that the environmental bodies have the knowledge to examine the strategic environmental studies and documents, and the environmental impact studies and documents, and that, if necessary, they can request reports from scientific, academic or other organizations that have said knowledge. Article 10. Failure to issue environmental declarations and reports. The lack of issuance of the strategic environmental statement, the strategic environmental report, the environmental impact statement or the environmental impact report, within the legally established deadlines, can in no case be understood as equivalent to a favorable environmental assessment. Article 11. Determination of the environmental body and the substantive body. 1. It corresponds to the body of the Ministry competent in matters of the environment that is determined by regulation, to exercise the functions attributed by this law to the environmental body when it comes to the environmental evaluation of plans, programs or projects that must be adopted, approved or authorized by the General Administration of the State and the public bodies linked to or dependent on it, or that are the subject of a responsible declaration or prior communication before this administration. 2. The functions attributed by this law to the environmental body and the substantive body, in terms of processing the different procedures, will correspond to the bodies determined by the legislation of each autonomous community when it comes to the environmental assessment of plans, programs or projects that must be adopted, approved or authorized by the autonomous communities or that are the subject of a responsible declaration or prior communication before them. 3. In the case of plans, programs and projects whose adoption, approval or authorization corresponds to local entities, the functions attributed by this law to the environmental body and the substantive body shall correspond to the body of the regional or local Administration determined by regional legislation. . page 22 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Article 12. Resolution of discrepancies. 1. In the event that there are discrepancies between the substantive body and the environmental body regarding the content of the strategic environmental statement, the environmental impact statement, or, where applicable, the strategic environmental report, or the environmental impact report, it shall resolve according to the Administration that has processed the file, the Council of Ministers or the Government Council or body that the autonomous community determines. 2. The substantive body will transfer to the environmental body a well-founded written document stating the reasons for the discrepancy together with all the documentation, including as many reports and documents as it deems appropriate, within a maximum period of thirty working days from the publication in the «Official Gazette of the State” or corresponding official journal of the strategic environmental statement, the environmental impact statement, or where appropriate, the strategic environmental report, or the environmental impact report. 3. Once the written discrepancies have been received, the environmental body must decide within a maximum period of thirty working days. If the environmental body does not pronounce itself within the aforementioned period, it will be understood that it maintains its criteria regarding the content of the strategic environmental statement, the environmental impact statement, or, where appropriate, the strategic environmental report, or the environmental impact report. formulated. 4. The substantive body will raise the discrepancy to the competent body for its resolution, which will pronounce itself within a maximum period of sixty business days counted from its receipt. As long as the body that must resolve the discrepancy does not pronounce itself, it will be considered that the strategic environmental declaration, the environmental impact declaration, or in its case, the strategic environmental report, or the environmental impact report maintain their effectiveness. 5. The agreement by which the discrepancy is resolved will be published in the «Official Gazette del Estado” or corresponding official gazette. Article 13. Relationship between strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment. 1. The strategic environmental evaluation of a plan or program does not exclude the evaluation of the environmental impact of the projects derived from them. 2. The environmental body may reasonedly agree, for the sake of the principle of effectiveness, the incorporation of procedures and administrative acts of the strategic environmental evaluation procedure in other environmental evaluation procedures, as long as the period established in the plan or program or, failing that, four years from the publication of the strategic environmental statement and there have been no changes in the circumstances taken into account in the strategic environmental assessment. Article 14. Relationship between the environmental impact assessment and the integrated environmental authorization. The autonomous communities will provide what is necessary to include the actions in terms of environmental impact assessment, when required, in the procedure for granting and modifying the integrated environmental authorization. Article 15. Confidentiality. 1. The Public Administrations that intervene in the environmental evaluation procedures must respect the confidentiality of the information provided by the promoter who, in accordance with Organic Law 15/1999, of December 13, on Data Protection of natural persons, have this character, taking into account, in any case, the protection of the public interest, without prejudice to the provisions of Law 27/2006, of July 18, which regulates the rights of access to information, participation and access to justice in environmental matters (incorporates Directives 2003/4/CE and 2003/35/CE). 2. The promoter must indicate which part of the information contained in the documentation submitted considers that it should enjoy confidentiality. The competent Administration will decide on the information that, according to current legislation, is excepted from secrecy. Page 23 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION commercial or industrial, including intellectual property, and information protected by confidentiality. Article 16. Technical capacity and responsibility of the author of environmental studies and documents. 1. The promoter will guarantee that the initial strategic document, the strategic environmental study and the strategic environmental document, in the case of the strategic environmental assessment, and the initial document, the environmental impact study and the environmental document, in the case of the environmental impact assessment, have been carried out by people who have sufficient technical capacity in accordance with the regulations on professional qualifications and higher education, and will have the quality and exhaustiveness necessary to meet the requirements of this law. To this end, the aforementioned environmental studies and documents must identify their author(s), indicating their qualifications and, where appropriate, regulated profession. In addition, the date of conclusion and signature of the author must be included. 2. The authors of the aforementioned documents will be responsible for the content and reliability of the environmental studies and documents mentioned in the previous section, except in what refers to the data reliably received from the Administration. TITLE II Environmental evaluation CHAPTER I Strategic Environmental Assessment Section 1 Ordinary strategic environmental assessment procedure for the formulation of the strategic environmental statement Article 17. Procedures and deadlines for the regular strategic environmental assessment. 1. The regular strategic environmental assessment will consist of the following procedures: a) Start request. b) Prior consultations and determination of the scope of the strategic environmental study. c) Preparation of the strategic environmental study. d) Public information and inquiries to affected public administrations and interested persons. e) Technical analysis of the file. f) Strategic environmental declaration. 2. The environmental body will have a maximum period of two months, counted from the receipt of the request to start the ordinary strategic environmental assessment, accompanied by the draft of the plan or program and an initial strategic document, to carry out the consultations foreseen in article 19.1 and prepare a scope document for the strategic environmental study regulated in article 19.2. 3. The maximum term for the preparation of the strategic environmental study, and for carrying out the public information and the consultations provided for in articles 20, 21, 22 and 23 will be nine months from the notification to the promoter of the scope document. 4. For the technical analysis of the file and the formulation of the strategic environmental declaration, the environmental body will have a period of four months, from the receipt of the complete file, in accordance with articles 24 and 25. Article 18. Request to start the regular strategic environmental assessment. 1. Within the substantive procedure for the adoption or approval of the plan or program, the promoter will submit to the substantive body, together with the documentation required by sectoral legislation, a request to start the ordinary strategic environmental assessment, Page 24 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION accompanied by the draft of the plan or program and an initial strategic document that will contain, at least, the following information: a) The planning objectives. b) The scope and content of the proposed plan or program and its alternatives reasonable, technically and environmentally feasible. c) The foreseeable development of the plan or program. d) The potential environmental impacts taking into account climate change. e) Foreseeable incidents on concurrent sectoral and territorial plans. 2. If the substantive body verifies that the application for initiation does not include the documents indicated in the previous section, it will require the promoter so that, within a period of ten working days, it accompanies the mandatory documents, with the effects provided for in article 71 of the Law 30/1992, of November 26. Likewise, the substantive body will verify that the documentation submitted In accordance with the sectoral legislation, it meets the requirements therein. 3. Once the previous verifications have been carried out, the substantive body will send the environmental body the initiation request and the documents that must accompany it. 4. Within twenty business days from the receipt of the request to start the ordinary strategic environmental assessment, the environmental body may resolve its inadmissibility for any of the following reasons: a) If it unequivocally estimates that the plan or program is manifestly unfeasible for environmental reasons. b) If you consider that the initial strategic document does not meet quality conditions enough. c) If it had already rejected or had already issued a strategic environmental declaration unfavorable in a plan or program substantially analogous to the one presented. Prior to the adoption of the resolution by which the inadmissibility is agreed, the environmental body will give a hearing to the promoter, informing the substantive body of this, for a period of ten working days that suspends the time provided for declaring the inadmission. The resolution of inadmissibility will justify the reasons for which it is appreciated, and against it, legally appropriate administrative and judicial resources may be filed, where appropriate. Article 19. Consultation with the affected public administrations and interested persons, and preparation of the scope document for the strategic environmental study. 1. The environmental body will submit the draft of the plan or program and the initial strategic document to consultations of the affected public Administrations and of the interested persons, who will pronounce themselves within thirty working days of receipt. Once this period has elapsed without the pronouncement having been received, the procedure will continue if the environmental body has sufficient elements of judgment to prepare the scope document of the strategic environmental study. In this case, the aforementioned pronouncements that are received later will not be taken into account. If the environmental body does not have sufficient evidence, either because the reports from the competent public Administrations that are relevant have not been received, or because, having received them, they are insufficient to decide, it will personally request the head of the hierarchically superior body of the one that would have to issue the report, so that, within a period of ten business days, counted from the receipt of the request, order the competent body to deliver the corresponding report within a period of ten business days, without prejudice to the responsibilities that could be incurred by the person responsible for the delay. The requirement made will be communicated to the substantive body and the promoter, and suspends the period provided for in article 17.2. In any case, the developer may claim the issuance of the report from the competent Administration, through the procedure provided for in article 29.1 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, of the Contentious- Administrative Jurisdiction. Page 25 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 2. Once the answers to the consultations have been received, the environmental body will prepare and send to the promoter and the substantive body, the scope document of the strategic environmental study, together with the answers received to the consultations made. 3. The scope document of the strategic environmental study will be made available to the public through the electronic headquarters of the environmental body and the substantive body. Article 20. Strategic environmental study. 1. Taking into account the scope document, the promoter will prepare the strategic environmental study, in which the possible significant effects on the environment of the application of the plan or program will be identified, described and evaluated, as well as reasonable technical and environmentally viable, taking into account the objectives and the geographical scope of the plan or programme. 2. The strategic environmental study will be considered an integral part of the plan or program and will contain, as a minimum, the information contained in Annex IV, as well as that which is considered reasonably necessary to ensure its quality. For these purposes, the following extremes will be taken into account: a) Existing knowledge and evaluation methods. b) The content and level of detail of the plan or program. c) The phase of the decision process in which it is located. d) The extent to which the evaluation of certain aspects needs to be complemented in other phases of said process, to avoid its repetition. 3. For the preparation of the strategic environmental study, the pertinent information available that has been obtained in the preparation of the plans and programs promoted by the same or by other public administrations may be used. Article 21. Initial version of the plan or program and public information. 1. The promoter will prepare the initial version of the plan or program taking into account the strategic environmental study, and will present both documents before the substantive body. 2. The substantive body will submit said initial version of the plan or program, accompanied by the strategic environmental study, to public information prior announcement in the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette and, where appropriate, at its electronic headquarters. The public information will be, at least, forty-five business days. Public information may be carried out by the promoter instead of the substantive body when, in accordance with sectoral legislation, the administrative processing of the plan or program corresponds to the promoter. 3. The documentation submitted to public information will also include a summary not technician of the strategic environmental study. 4. The substantive body will adopt the necessary measures to guarantee that the documentation that must be submitted to public information has the maximum diffusion among the public, using electronic and other means of communication. Article 22. Consultation with affected public administrations and interested persons. 1. Simultaneously with the public information process, the substantive body shall submit the initial version of the plan or program, accompanied by the strategic environmental study, for consultation by the affected Public Administrations and interested persons who had previously been consulted in accordance with article 19. . These consultations may be carried out by the promoter instead of the substantive body when, in accordance with sectoral legislation, the administrative processing of the plan or program corresponds to the promoter. The consultation of the affected Public Administrations and interested persons will be carried out by electronic or any other means, provided that the consultation is accredited. 2. The public Administrations affected, and interested persons will have a minimum period of thirty working days from the initial version of the plan or Page 26 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION program, accompanied by the strategic environmental study to issue the reports and allegations they deem pertinent. Article 23. Final proposal of plan or program. Taking into consideration the allegations made in the public information and consultation procedures, including, where appropriate, cross-border consultations, the promoter will modify, if necessary, the strategic environmental study, and will prepare the final proposal for the plan or program. Reports or allegations received outside the deadlines established in articles 21 and 22 will not be taken into account. Article 24. Technical analysis of the file. 1. The substantive body will send the evaluation file to the environmental body comprehensive strategic environment, made up of: a) The final plan or program proposal. b) The strategic environmental study. c) The result of public information and consultations, including cross-border consultations, as the case may be, as well as their consideration. d) A summary document in which the promoter describes the integration in the final proposal of the plan or program of environmental aspects, of the strategic environmental study and its adaptation to the scope document, of the result of the consultations carried out and how these have been taken into consideration. 2. The environmental body will carry out a technical analysis of the file, and an analysis of the significant impacts of the application of the plan or program on the environment, which will take climate change into consideration. 3. If during the technical analysis of the strategic environmental assessment file, the environmental body deems that the public information or consultations have not been carried out in accordance with the provisions of this law, it will require the substantive body to rectify the strategic environmental assessment file in a maximum period of three months. In these cases, the computation of the term for the formulation of the strategic environmental declaration will be suspended. If three months have elapsed, the substantive body has not submitted the corrected file, or if, once submitted, it is insufficient, the environmental body will consider the ordinary strategic environmental assessment as completed, notifying the promoter and the substantive body of the termination resolution. Legally appropriate appeals may be lodged against this resolution in administrative and judicial proceedings, where applicable. 4. If during the technical analysis of the strategic environmental assessment file, the environmental body concludes that additional information is necessary to formulate the strategic environmental declaration, it will request the promoter the information that is essential, informing the substantive body, which completes the file. This request suspends the term for the formulation of the strategic environmental declaration. If after three months the promoter has not sent the requested additional documentation, or if once it is submitted it is insufficient, the environmental body will terminate the ordinary strategic environmental assessment, notifying the promoter and the substantive body of the termination resolution. Against this resolution legally proceeding administrative and judicial resources may be filed, where appropriate. 5. The environmental body will continue with the procedure as long as it has the Sufficient elements of judgment to carry out the strategic environmental assessment. If the strategic environmental assessment file does not contain any of the reports of the affected public administrations, consulted in accordance with the provisions of article 22, and the environmental body does not have sufficient elements of judgment to carry out the strategic environmental assessment, it will personally require to the head of the body hierarchically superior to the one that would have to issue the report so that, within a period of ten days, counted from the receipt of the request, order the competent body to deliver the corresponding report within a period of ten days, without prejudice to the responsibilities that the person responsible for the delay may incur. The requirement Page 27 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION made will be communicated to the substantive body and the promoter, and suspends the term for the formulation of the environmental impact statement. If after ten days the environmental body has not received the report, it will inform the substantive body and the promoter of the impossibility of continuing the procedure. In any case, the developer may claim the issuance of the report from the competent Administration through the procedure provided for in article 29 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, on Contentious- Administrative Jurisdiction. Article 25. Strategic environmental declaration. 1. Once the technical analysis of the file has been completed, the environmental body will formulate the strategic environmental declaration, within a period of four months from the receipt of the complete file. 2. The strategic environmental declaration will have the nature of a mandatory, determining report and will contain a statement of the facts that summarizes the main milestones of the procedure, including the results of public information, of the consultations, if applicable, those of the cross-border consultations, as well as the determinations, measures or final conditions that must be incorporated into the plan or program that is finally approved or adopted. 3. The strategic environmental declaration will be published in the «Official State Gazette» or corresponding official gazette, within the following ten working days from its formulation, without prejudice to its publication in the electronic headquarters of the environmental body. 4. Against the strategic environmental declaration, no recourse shall proceed without prejudice to those that, where appropriate, proceed in court against the general provision that had approved the plan or program, or of those that proceed in administrative or legal proceedings. court against the act, if any, of adoption or approval of the plan or program. Article 26. Publicity of the adoption or approval of the plan or program. 1. The promoter will incorporate the content of the strategic environmental declaration in the plan or program and, in accordance with the provisions of the sectoral legislation, will submit it to the adoption or approval of the substantive body. 2. Within ten business days from the adoption or approval of the plan or program, the substantive body shall submit the following documentation for publication in the “Official State Gazette” or corresponding official gazette: a) The resolution by which the plan or program is adopted or approved, and a reference to the electronic address in which the substantive body will make the full content of said plan or program available to the public. b) An extract that includes the following aspects: 1.º How environmental aspects have been integrated into the plan or programme. 2. How the strategic environmental study, the results of public information and consultations, including, where appropriate, cross-border consultations and the strategic environmental declaration, as well as, where appropriate, the discrepancies that may have arisen in the process. 3rd The reasons for choosing the selected alternative, in relation to the alternatives considered. c) The measures adopted to monitor the effects on the environment of the implementation of the plan or program. Article 27. Validity of the strategic environmental declaration. 1. The strategic environmental declaration will lose its validity and will cease to produce its own effects if, once published in the “Official State Gazette” or corresponding official gazette, the plan has not been adopted or approved. or program within a maximum period of two years from its publication. In such cases, the promoter must begin the process of strategic environmental evaluation of the plan or program again, unless the extension of the validity of the strategic environmental declaration is agreed in the terms provided in the following sections. Page 28 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 2. The promoter may request the extension of the validity of the strategic environmental declaration before the term established in the previous section has elapsed. The request made by the promoter will suspend the period of two years of the previous section. 3. In view of such a request, the environmental body may agree to extend the validity of the strategic environmental declaration in the event that there have been no substantial changes in the essential elements that served as the basis for carrying out the strategic environmental assessment, extending its validity for two additional years. Once this period has elapsed without the plan or program being approved, the promoter must start the strategic environmental assessment procedure again. 4. The environmental body will decide on the extension request within a period of six months counted from the date of presentation of said request. Previously, the environmental body will request a report from the public Administrations affected by reason of the matter in relation to the essential elements that served as the basis for carrying out the strategic environmental assessment. These Administrations must decide within two months, which may be extended, for duly justified reasons, for one more month. 5. After the period of six months without the environmental body having notified the extension of the validity of the strategic environmental declaration, the request for extension will be understood as estimated. Article 28. Modification of the strategic environmental statement. 1. The strategic environmental statement of an approved plan or program may be modified when there are circumstances that determine the incorrectness of the strategic environmental statement, including those that arise during the environmental impact assessment procedure, both due to events or circumstances occurring after this The latter as well as previous facts or circumstances that, at the time, were not or could not be subject to an adequate assessment. 2. The procedure for modifying the strategic environmental declaration may be initiated ex officio or at the request of the promoter. The environmental body will initiate said procedure ex officio, either on its own initiative or by reasoned request of the substantive body, or by complaint, by agreement. In the event that a reasoned petition or complaint has been received, the environmental body must rule on the appropriateness of agreeing to start the procedure within twenty business days from the receipt of the petition or complaint. 3. Within twenty business days from the receipt of the promoter's request to start the modification of the strategic environmental declaration, the environmental body may resolve its inadmissibility with reasons. Faced with this resolution, legally proceeding administrative or judicial resources may be filed, where appropriate, in their case. 4. The environmental body will consult, for a minimum period of thirty business days, the promoter, the substantive body and the affected Public Administrations and interested persons previously consulted in accordance with article 22, in order to issue the reports and formulate as many allegations they deem appropriate and provide as many documents as they deem necessary. The consultation will be carried out by electronic or any other means, provided that the consultation is accredited. Once the period has elapsed without the reports and allegations of the affected public administrations and interested persons having been received, the modification procedure will continue if the environmental body has sufficient evidence to do so. In this case, reports and allegations received later will not be taken into account. If the environmental body does not have sufficient evidence to continue with the modification procedure, either because the reports from the affected public administrations have not been received, or because, having received these, they are insufficient to decide, it will personally request the head of the body hierarchically superior to the one that would have to issue the report, so that within ten business days from the request, order the competent body to forward the reports within ten business days, without prejudice to the responsibility in which incurred by the person responsible for the delay. The requirement made will be communicated to the substantive body and Page 29 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION to the promoter and suspends the period established for the environmental body to rule on the modification of the strategic environmental declaration. In any case, the developer may request the competent Administration to formulate the reports, through the procedure provided for in article 29.1 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, on Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction. 5. The environmental body, within a period of two months from the beginning of the procedure, will decide on the modification of the strategic environmental declaration that was formulated at the time. 6. The decision of the environmental body on the modification will be decisive and not subject to appeal without prejudice to administrative or judicial resources that, where appropriate, proceed against the acts or provisions that, subsequently and consequently, may be issued. Such decision will be notified to the promoter and the substantive body and must be sent for publication within fifteen business days to the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette, without prejudice to its publication in the electronic headquarters of the environmental body. Section 2 Simplified strategic environmental assessment procedure for the issuance of the strategic environmental report Article 29. Request to start the simplified strategic environmental assessment. 1. Within the substantive procedure for the adoption or approval of the plan or program, the promoter will submit to the substantive body, together with the documentation required by the sectoral legislation, a request to start the simplified strategic environmental assessment, accompanied by the draft of the plan or program and a strategic environmental document that will contain, at least, the following information: a) The planning objectives. b) The scope and content of the proposed plan and its reasonable alternatives, technical and environmentally viable. c) The foreseeable development of the plan or program. d) A characterization of the environmental situation before the development of the plan or program in the affected territorial area. e) The foreseeable environmental effects and, if applicable, their quantification. f) The foreseeable effects on concurrent sectoral and territorial plans. g) The motivation for the application of the simplified strategic environmental assessment procedure. h) A summary of the reasons for selecting the alternatives considered. i) The measures planned to prevent, reduce and, to the extent possible, correct any significant negative effect on the environment of the application of the plan or program, taking into account climate change. j) A description of the measures provided for environmental monitoring of the plan. 2. If the substantive body verifies that the start request does not include the documents indicated in the previous section, it will require the promoter to provide them, within a period of ten business days, with the effects provided for in article 71 of the Law. 30/1992, of November 26. Likewise, the substantive body will verify that the documentation presented in In accordance with the sectoral legislation, it meets the requirements therein. 3. Once the previous verifications have been carried out, the substantive body will send the environmental body the start application and the documents that must accompany it. 4. Within twenty business days from the receipt of the request to start the simplified strategic environmental assessment, the environmental body may resolve its inadmissibility for any of the following reasons: a) If it unequivocally estimates that the plan or program is manifestly unfeasible for environmental reasons. b) If it considers that the strategic environmental document does not meet sufficient quality conditions. Page 30 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Prior to the adoption of the resolution by which the inadmissibility is agreed, the environmental body will give a hearing to the promoter, informing the substantive body of this, for a period of ten days that suspends the period provided for declaring the inadmission. The resolution of inadmissibility will justify the reasons for which it is appreciated, and against it, legally appropriate administrative and judicial resources may be filed, where appropriate. Article 30. Consultations with affected public administrations and interested persons. 1. The environmental body will consult the affected public administrations and interested persons, making the strategic environmental document and the draft of the plan or program available to them. 2. The public administrations affected and the interested persons consulted must make a statement within a maximum period of twenty business days from receipt of the request for a report. Once this period has elapsed without the pronouncement having been received, the procedure will continue if the environmental body has sufficient elements of judgment to formulate the strategic environmental report. In this case, the aforementioned pronouncements that are received later will not be taken into account. If the environmental body does not have sufficient elements of judgment, either because the relevant reports from the affected public Administrations have not been received, or because having received them they are insufficient to decide, it will personally request the head of the body hierarchically superior to that that it would have to issue the report, so that within a period of ten business days, counted from the receipt of the request, order the competent body to deliver the corresponding report within a period of ten business days, without prejudice to the responsibilities in which the person responsible for the delay may incur. The requirement made will be communicated to the substantive body and the promoter and suspends the term. In any case, the promoter may claim the issuance of the report from the competent Administration, through the procedure provided for in article 29.1 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, on the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction. Article 31. Strategic environmental report. 1. The environmental body will formulate the strategic environmental report within a period of three months from the receipt of the start request and the documents that must accompany it. 2. The environmental body, taking into account the results of the consultations carried out and in accordance with the criteria established in annex V, will resolve by issuing the strategic environmental report, which may determine that: a) The plan or program must be submitted to an ordinary strategic environmental evaluation because they may have significant effects on the environment. In this case, the environmental body will prepare the scope document of the strategic environmental study, taking into account the result of the consultations carried out in accordance with the provisions of article 30, and it will not be necessary to carry out the consultations regulated in article 19. This decision will be notified to the promoter together with the scope document and the result of the consultations carried out so that it prepares the strategic environmental study and continues with the processing provided for in articles 21 et seq. b) The plan or program does not have significant effects on the environment, on terms established in the strategic environmental report. 3. The environmental impact report will be published in the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette, within ten business days following its formulation, without prejudice to its publication in the electronic headquarters of the environmental body. 4. In the case provided for in section 1 letter b) the strategic environmental report will lose its validity and will cease to produce its own effects if, once published in the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette, The plan or program had not been approved within a maximum period of four years from its Page 31 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION publication. In such cases, the promoter must start the simplified strategic environmental assessment procedure of the plan or program again. 5. The strategic environmental report will not be subject to any appeal without prejudice to those that, where appropriate, proceed in court against the general provision that would have approved the plan or program, or, without prejudice to those that proceed administratively before the act, where appropriate, of approval of the plan or program. Article 32. Publicity of the adoption or approval of the plan or program. Within a period of ten business days from the approval of the plan or program, the substantive body will submit the following documentation for publication in the "Official State Gazette" or official gazette: a) The resolution by which the approved plan or program is adopted or approved, and a reference to the electronic address in which the substantive body will make the full content of said plan or program available to the public. b) A reference to the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette in which the strategic environmental report has been published. CHAPTER II Environmental impact assessment of projects Section 1 ordinary environmental impact assessment procedure for the formulation of the environmental impact statement Article 33. Procedures and deadlines for the ordinary environmental impact assessment. 1. The ordinary environmental impact assessment will consist of the following procedures: a) Preparation of the environmental impact study by the promoter. b) Submission of the project and the environmental impact study to public information and consultations with the affected Public Administrations and interested persons, by the substantive body. c) Technical analysis of the file by the environmental body. d) Formulation of the environmental impact statement by the environmental body. e) Integration of the content of the environmental impact statement in the authorization of the project by the substantive body. 2. Optionally, the promoter may request, in accordance with article 34, that the environmental body prepare the scope document of the environmental impact study. The maximum term for its elaboration is two months. 3. Mandatory, the substantive body, within the substantive project authorization procedure, will carry out public information procedures and consultations with affected Public Administrations and interested persons. The public information and consultation procedures will be valid for one year from their completion. After this period has elapsed without the substantive body having transferred the file to the environmental body, in accordance with article 39.4, for the ordinary environmental impact assessment, the substantive body will declare the expiration of the aforementioned procedures. 4. The technical analysis of the environmental impact file and the formulation of the environmental impact statement will be carried out within four months, counted from the complete receipt of the environmental impact file. Article 34. Prior actions: consultations with the affected public administrations and interested persons and preparation of the document on the scope of the environmental impact study. 1. Prior to the start of the ordinary environmental impact assessment procedure, the promoter may request the environmental body to prepare a scope document for the environmental impact study. The maximum period for the preparation of the Page 32 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION scope document is two months from receipt of the scope document request. 2. For this, the promoter will submit to the substantive body a request to determine the scope of the environmental impact study, accompanied by the initial project document, which will contain, at a minimum, the following information: a) The definition and specific characteristics of the project, including its location, technical feasibility and its probable impact on the environment, as well as a preliminary analysis of the foreseeable effects on the environmental factors derived from the vulnerability of the project to the risk of serious accidents or catastrophes. b) The main alternatives being considered and an analysis of the potentials impact of each of them. c) A territorial and environmental diagnosis affected by the project. The substantive body, once the adequacy of the submitted documentation has been formally verified, will send it, within a period of ten working days, to the environmental body so that it prepares the scope document of the environmental impact study. If the initial documentation presented by the promoter together with the application lacks the required information or is insufficient to be able to carry out consultations with the affected Public Administrations, the promoter will be required to correct the lack of information within a non- extendable period of ten days. or accompany the necessary documentation, indicating that if you do not do so, your application will be considered withdrawn. 3. For the preparation of the scope document of the environmental impact study, the environmental body will consult the affected public administrations and interested persons. 4. The public administrations affected and the interested persons consulted must make a statement within a maximum period of twenty working days from receipt of the documentation. Once this period has elapsed without these pronouncements having been received, the procedure will continue if the environmental body has sufficient elements of judgment to prepare the scope document for the environmental impact study. In this case, the aforementioned pronouncements that are received later will not be taken into account. If the environmental body does not have sufficient elements of judgment, either because the relevant reports from the affected public Administrations have not been received, or because having received these they are insufficient to decide, it will personally request the head of the body hierarchically superior to that that it would have to issue the report, so that within a period of ten business days, counted from the receipt of the request, order the competent body to deliver the corresponding report within said period, without prejudice to the responsibilities that the person in charge could incur of the delay. The requirement made will be communicated to the substantive body and the promoter, and suspends the deadline for the preparation of the scope document. If after the period of ten business days granted for this purpose, the environmental body has not received the reports from the affected public administrations that are relevant for determining the scope of the environmental impact study, the environmental body will prepare the scope document stating the Absence of the reports requested for the knowledge of the promoter and the substantive body. In any case, the developer may claim the issuance of the report from the competent Administration, through the procedure provided for in article 29.1 of Law 9/1998, of July 13, of the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction. 5. Once the replies to the queries have been received, the environmental body will prepare and send the environmental impact study scope document to the promoter and the substantive body, together with the replies received to the queries carried out within the period established in article 33.2.a. ). The environmental impact study scope document will be valid for a period of two years from the day following its notification to the developer. It will lose its validity once said period elapses without the substantive body having submitted the Page 33 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION environmental impact study to start the ordinary environmental impact assessment procedure. 6. When the project must undergo an ordinary environmental impact assessment by virtue of the provisions of article 47.2.a) the environmental body will take into account the result of the consultations carried out in accordance with article 46 and it will not be necessary to carry out new consultations to the elaboration of the scope document of the environmental impact study. Article 35. Environmental impact study. 1. Without prejudice to what is stated in article 34.6, the promoter will prepare the environmental impact study that will contain, at least, the following information in the terms developed in annex VI: a) General description of the project that includes information on its location, design, dimensions and other relevant characteristics of the project; and forecasts over time on the use of land and other natural resources. Estimation of the types and amounts of waste generated and resulting material or energy emissions. b) Description of the various reasonable alternatives studied that are related to the project and their specific characteristics, including the zero alternative, or non-execution of the project, and a justification of the main reasons for the solution adopted, taking into account the effects of the environmental project. c) Identification, description, analysis and, if applicable, quantification of the possible significant direct or indirect, secondary, cumulative and synergistic effects of the project on the following factors: the population, human health, flora, fauna, biodiversity, geodiversity, soil, subsoil, air, water, the marine environment, climate, climate change, landscape, material goods, cultural heritage, and the interaction between all the factors mentioned, during the phases of execution, exploitation and, where appropriate, during the demolition or abandonment of the project. A specific section will be included for the evaluation of the repercussions of the project on Natura 2000 Network spaces, taking into account the conservation objectives of each place, which includes the aforementioned impacts, the corresponding preventive, corrective and compensatory measures of the Natura 2000 Network and their follow-up. When the existence of damage to the integrity of the Natura 2000 Network is verified, the promoter will document the non-existence of alternatives, and the concurrence of the imperative reasons of public interest of the first order mentioned in article 46, sections 5, 6 and 7, of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. When the project may cause a long-term hydromorphological change in a body of surface water or an alteration in the level of a body of groundwater that may prevent it from reaching good status or potential, or that may lead to a deterioration of its status or potential , a specific section will be included for the evaluation of its long-term repercussions on the quality elements that define the state or potential of the affected water masses. d) A specific section will be included that includes the identification, description, analysis and, if applicable, quantification of the expected effects on the factors listed in letter c), derived from the vulnerability of the project to the risk of serious accidents or catastrophes, on the risk of said accidents or catastrophes occurring, and about the probable significant adverse effects on the environment, in the event of their occurrence, or a justifying report on the non-application of this section to the project. To carry out the studies mentioned in this section, the promoter will include the relevant information obtained through the risk assessments carried out in accordance with the regulations that apply to the project. e) Measures to prevent, correct and, where appropriate, compensate for the possible effects significant adverse effects on the environment and landscape. f) Environmental surveillance program. g) Non-technical summary of the environmental impact study and conclusions in easily understandable terms. Page 34 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 2. When the environmental body has prepared the scope document in accordance with the provisions of article 34, the promoter will prepare the environmental impact study adjusting to the information required in said document. 3. In order to avoid duplication of evaluations, the promoter, when preparing the environmental impact study, will take into account the available results of other relevant evaluations under Community or national legislation. For these purposes, the Administration will make the reports and any other documentation in its possession available to the promoter who requests it when it is useful for carrying out the environmental impact study. 4. The environmental impact study will lose its validity if within one year from the date of its conclusion it has not been submitted to the substantive body for carrying out public information and consultations. Article 36. Public information on the project and the environmental impact study. 1. The promoter will present the project and the environmental impact study before the substantive body, which will submit them to public information for a period of not less than thirty business days, prior announcement in the "Official State Gazette" or official newspaper that corresponds and at its electronic office. This public information will be carried out in a phase of the substantive authorization procedure of the project in which all the options related to the determination of the content, the extension and the definition of the project are open. In the case of projects that must be authorized by the General State Administration and that also require an integrated environmental authorization according to the provisions of the consolidated text of the Law on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/ 2016, of December 16, the substantive body will carry out the public information referred to in this article. In the case of projects subject to responsible declaration or communication prior, it will be the responsibility of the environmental body to carry out public information. 2. In the announcement of the start of public information, the substantive body, or where appropriate the environmental body, will include a summary of the project authorization procedure, which will contain, at a minimum, the following information: a) Indication that the project is subject to an ordinary environmental impact assessment, as well as that, if applicable, the provisions of Chapter III of this Title regarding cross-border consultations may be applicable. b) Identification of the competent body to authorize the project or, in the case of projects subject to a responsible declaration or prior communication, identification of the body before which the aforementioned declaration or prior communication must be submitted; identification of those bodies from which pertinent information can be obtained and of those to which allegations can be made, as well as the period available for their presentation. 3. The substantive body, or, as the case may be, the environmental body, will adopt the necessary measures to guarantee that the documentation that must be submitted to public information has the maximum diffusion among the public, using electronic and other means of communication. Article 37. Consultation with affected public administrations and interested persons. 1. Simultaneously to the public information process, the substantive body will consult the affected Public Administrations and interested persons about the possible significant effects of the project, which will include the analysis of the probable significant adverse effects on the environment derived from the vulnerability of the project. against risks of serious accidents or catastrophes that affect the project. In the case of projects subject to a responsible declaration or prior communication, it will correspond to the environmental body to consult the affected Public Administrations and interested persons. Page 35 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 2. The substantive body must request the following reports as mandatory, which must be duly motivated: a) Report of the body with competences in environmental matters of the community autonomous region where the project is located. b) Report on cultural heritage, when appropriate. c) Report of the bodies with competencies in matters of hydrological planning and hydraulic public domain, and in terms of water quality, when appropriate. d) Report on the maritime-terrestrial public domain, and marine strategies when appropriate, in accordance with Law 22/1988, of July 28, on Coasts and Law 41/2010, of December 29, on the protection of the marine environment respectively. e) Preliminary report of the body with powers in matters of radiological impact, when appropriate. f) Report of the bodies with powers in matters of prevention and management of risks arising from serious accidents or catastrophes, where appropriate. g) Report on the compatibility of the project with the hydrological planning or the planning of the Marine Demarcation, when appropriate. h) Report from the Ministry of Defense in the event that the project affects areas declared of interest to National Defense and land, buildings and facilities, including their protection zones, assigned to National Defense. The report will be binding in that which affects National Defense. i) Report of the bodies with competencies in public health matters, when appropriate. The autonomous communities, within the scope of their powers, may establish the mandatory nature of any other report other than those mentioned above. 3. Consultations will be made through a notification that will contain, at a minimum, the following information: a) The environmental impact study, or the place or places where it can be consulted. b) The body to which the reports and allegations must be sent. c) All relevant documentation on the project for the purposes of the environmental assessment that is in the possession of the substantive body. The consultation of the affected Public Administrations and interested persons will be carried out by electronic means and through announcements or any other means, provided that the consultation is accredited. 4. The affected Public Administrations and the interested persons will have a maximum period of thirty working days from the reception of the notification to issue the reports and formulate the allegations that they deem pertinent. 5. The substantive body will make available to the affected Public Administrations and interested persons any information other than that provided for in section 3 that can only be obtained once the public information period referred to in article 36 has expired and that It is relevant for the purposes of the decision on the execution of the project. Article 38. Modification of the project or the environmental impact study and new process of public information and consultations. 1. Within a maximum period of thirty business days from the completion of the public information procedures and consultations with the affected Public Administrations and interested persons, the substantive body will send the reports and allegations received to the promoter for consideration in the drafting, where appropriate, of the new version of the project and in the environmental impact study. 2. If, as a result of the public information process and consultations with the affected Public Administrations and interested persons, the developer incorporates modifications in the project or in the environmental impact study that entail significant environmental effects other than those originally anticipated, the will carry out a new process of public information and consultations in the terms provided in articles 36 and 37, which in any case, will be prior to the formulation of the environmental impact statement. Page 36 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 3. Reports or allegations received outside the deadlines established in articles 36 and 37 will not be taken into account. Article 39. Ordinary environmental impact assessment. 1. Within the substantive procedure for project authorization, the promoter will submit to the substantive body, together with the documentation required by sectoral legislation, a request for ordinary environmental impact assessment, accompanied by the following documentation, which will constitute the minimum content of the project. environmental impact assessment file: a) The technical document of the project. b) The environmental impact study. c) The allegations and reports received in the procedures for public information and consultations with the affected Public Administrations and interested persons by virtue of article 37, and where applicable, articles 34 and 38.2. 2. If the substantive body verifies that the request for an ordinary environmental impact assessment does not include the documents indicated in the previous section, it will require the promoter so that, within a period of ten business days, it accompanies the mandatory documents, with the effects foreseen in Article 68 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations. In relation to the environmental impact study, the basic document for carrying out the environmental impact assessment, it will be verified that the specific sections contemplated in article 35.1 have been included in it. Likewise, the substantive body will verify that the documentation presented meets the requirements demanded by the sectoral legislation. 3. Once the previous verifications have been carried out, the substantive body will send the environmental body the request for ordinary environmental impact assessment and the documents that must accompany it. 4. Within a period of twenty business days from receipt of the request to start the ordinary environmental impact assessment, the environmental body may resolve its inadmissibility for any of the following reasons: a) If it unequivocally estimates that the project is manifestly unfeasible due to environmental reasons. b) If you consider that the environmental impact study does not meet quality conditions enough. c) If he had already rejected or had already issued an environmental impact statement unfavorable in a project substantially similar to the one presented. Prior to the adoption of the resolution by which the inadmissibility is agreed, the environmental body will give a hearing to the promoter, informing the substantive body of this, for a period of ten working days that suspends the time provided for declaring the inadmission. The resolution of inadmissibility will justify the reasons for which it is appreciated, and against it, legally appropriate administrative and judicial resources may be filed, where appropriate. Article 40. Technical analysis of the file. 1. The environmental body will carry out a formal analysis of the environmental impact assessment file and will verify that it is complete. If from this analysis it turns out that the reports provided for in section 37.2 do not appear in the file, or that the public information or consultations with the affected Public Administrations and interested persons have not been carried out in accordance with the provisions of this law, or that the environmental impact study prepared by the promoter is incomplete due to the omission of any of the specific sections contemplated in article 35.1, the environmental body will require the substantive body to correct the file within three months, the term for the formulation of the environmental impact statement. Page 37 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION If, after three months, the substantive body has not sent the requested information, or if, once the file is submitted, it is still incomplete, the environmental body will terminate the ordinary environmental impact assessment, notifying the promoter and the substantive body of the termination resolution. . Legally appropriate appeals may be lodged against this resolution in administrative and judicial proceedings, where applicable. 2. Once the file is formally completed, the environmental body will carry out the technical analysis of the file. If during this analysis it is verified that any of the mandatory reports referred to in article 37.2 or the specific sections contemplated in article 35.1, is not sufficient to have the elements of judgment necessary to be able to carry out the environmental impact assessment, the environmental body will go to the substantive body to complete the reports. If, after two months, the substantive body has not submitted the requested reports or, if once submitted, their content is still insufficient, the environmental body will personally request the head of the hierarchically superior body of the one that would have to issue the report so that, in the within ten days, counted from the receipt of the request, order the competent body to deliver the requested report within ten days, without prejudice to the responsibilities that the person responsible for the delay may incur. The requirement made will be communicated to the substantive body and the promoter, and will suspend the term for the formulation of the environmental impact statement. If after ten days the environmental body has not received the report, the environmental body will notify the substantive body and the promoter of the impossibility of continuing the procedure, terminating the ordinary environmental impact assessment, notifying the promoter and the substantive body. termination resolution. Against this resolution legally proceeding administrative and judicial resources may be filed, where appropriate. In any case, the promoter may claim from the competent Administration the issuance of the report through the procedure provided for in article 29 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, regulating the Contentious-administrative Jurisdiction. 3. Likewise, if during the technical analysis of the file the environmental body appreciates: a) that additional information regarding the environmental impact study is necessary or, as the case may be, that the content of the environmental impact study is not consistent with the information required in the scope document; O well b) that the promoter has not duly taken into account the allegations received during the public information and consultation procedures, it will require the promoter, informing the substantive body of this, to complete the information that is essential for the formulation of the impact statement environmental. If after three months, the promoter has not submitted the required information or, once submitted, it continues to be insufficient, the environmental body will consider the regular environmental impact assessment to have ended, notifying the promoter and the substantive body of the termination resolution. Against this resolution legally proceeding administrative and judicial resources may be filed, where appropriate. The three-month period provided for in this paragraph may be extended in exceptional cases, duly motivated, at the request of the substantive body, and for a time not to exceed half of said period. 4. During the technical analysis of the file, the environmental body may request, at any time, either directly or through the substantive body, the report of scientific or academic organizations that are necessary to have sufficient evidence to carry out the evaluation. of environmental impact. These bodies must make a decision within thirty working days from the receipt of the request. The environmental body will transfer a copy of the reports received to the substantive body. If after thirty business days the environmental body has not received the requested reports, it will terminate the ordinary environmental impact assessment, notifying the promoter and the substantive body of the termination resolution. against this Page 38 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION resolution, the legally proceeding resources may be filed in administrative and judicial channels, as the case may be. 5. If the environmental body considers it necessary for the affected Public Administrations and interested persons to rule on the new information received by virtue of sections 3 and 4, it will require the substantive body to carry out a new consultation with the affected Public Administrations and the Interested persons, who must pronounce themselves within a maximum period of thirty business days from receipt of the documentation, suspending the term for the formulation of the environmental impact statement. After the period of thirty business days, the procedure will continue if the environmental body has sufficient evidence to formulate the environmental impact statement. Otherwise, the environmental body will notify the substantive body and the promoter of the impossibility of continuing the procedure, terminating the ordinary environmental impact assessment, notifying the promoter and the substantive body of the termination resolution. Against this resolution legally proceeding administrative and judicial resources may be filed, where appropriate. The thirty-day period provided for in the preceding paragraph may be extended in exceptional cases, duly motivated, at the request of the substantive body, and for a period not exceeding half of said period. Article 41. Environmental impact statement. 1. The environmental body, once the technical analysis of the file of environmental impact assessment, will formulate the environmental impact statement. 2. The environmental impact statement will have the nature of a mandatory and determining report, which will conclude on the significant effects of the project on the environment and, where appropriate, will establish the conditions under which it can be developed for the adequate protection of the factors listed. in article 35.1 c) during the execution and exploitation and, where appropriate, the cessation, dismantling or demolition of the project, as well as, where appropriate, preventive, corrective and compensatory measures. The environmental impact statement will include, at least, the following content: a) The identification of the promoter of the project and of the substantive body, and the description of the project. b) The summary of the result of the public information process and the consultations with the affected Public Administrations and interested persons, and how they have been taken into consideration. c) The summary of the technical analysis carried out by the environmental body. d) If applicable, the conditions that must be established and the measures that allow prevent, correct and, where appropriate, compensate for adverse effects on the environment. e) If applicable, the conclusion of the evaluation of the repercussions on the Natura 2000 Network. When the existence of damage to the integrity of the Natura 2000 Network is verified, a reference to the documentary justification made by the promoter of the Natura 2000 Network will be included. in accordance with article 35.1.c), second paragraph and, where appropriate, the compensatory measures Red Natura 2000 that must be established in the event of the circumstances provided for in article 46 of Law 42/2007, of December 13, of Patrimony Nature and Biodiversity. f) The environmental surveillance program. g) If applicable, the creation of a monitoring committee. h) In the case of periodic operations, the reasons for the decision and the term to be refers to the tenth additional provision. i) In the case of projects that are going to cause a long-term hydromorphological change in a body of surface water or an alteration of the level in a body of groundwater, it will be determined if the evaluation carried out has deduced that this will prevent it from reaching the good status or potential, or that this will imply a deterioration of the status or potential of the affected body of water. If so, the statement will also include: Page 39 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 1st List of all feasible measures, which have been deduced from the evaluation, to alleviate the adverse effects of the project on the state or potential of the affected water bodies. 2nd Reference to the conformity of the competent unit in hydrological planning of the basin organization with the evaluation carried out and mitigating measures indicated. 3. The environmental impact statement will be published in the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette, within ten business days following its formulation, without prejudice to its publication in the electronic headquarters of the environmental body. . 4. The environmental impact statement will not be subject to appeal without prejudice to those who, where appropriate, proceed in administrative and judicial channels against the act by which the project is authorized. Article 42. Authorization of the project and publicity. 1. The substantive body must duly take into account, in the project authorization procedure, which must be resolved within a reasonable time, the environmental impact assessment carried out, including the results of the consultations. 2. The authorization of the project will include, as a minimum, the following information contained in the environmental impact statement: a) The conclusion on the significant effects of the project on the environment, taking into account the environmental impact statement. b) The environmental conditions established, as well as a description of the characteristics of the project and the measures planned to prevent, correct and, if possible, compensate for significant adverse effects on the environment, as well as, where appropriate, follow-up measures and the body in charge of it. 3. The decision to deny an authorization will indicate the main reasons for the denial. 4. The substantive body, in the shortest possible time and in any case before fifteen working days from the decision to authorize or deny the project, will send it to the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official newspaper, for its publication. , an extract of the content of said decision that will contain, at least, the following information: a) The content of the decision and the conditions that may accompany it. b) The main reasons and considerations on which the decision is based, including the information collected in accordance with articles 36 and 37 and, if applicable, 34 and 38.2, and how that information has been incorporated or considered, in particular, the observations received from the Member State concerned referred to in Article 49. Likewise, it will publish in its electronic headquarters a reference to the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official newspaper in which the environmental impact statement and the extract on the decision to authorize or deny the project were published. 5. The information referred to in the previous section shall be sent to the Member States that have been consulted according to Chapter III of this title, regarding cross-border consultations. Article 43. Validity of the environmental impact statement. 1. The environmental impact statement of the project or activity will lose its validity and will cease to produce its own effects if, once it has been published in the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette, execution has not begun. of the project or activity within four years. In such cases, the promoter must start the environmental impact assessment process of the project again, unless the extension of the validity of the environmental impact statement is agreed in the terms provided in the following sections. In the absence of specific regulations, the start of project execution will be understood to mean when, once all the required authorizations have been obtained, the works or the assembly of the facilities necessary for the execution of the project or activity have materially begun, and this is stated the administration. Page 40 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION For the purposes set forth in this section, the promoter of any project or activity subject to an environmental impact assessment must inform the environmental body of the start date of the execution of said project or activity. In the event that a judicial proceeding affects, directly or indirectly, the execution of a project that has an Environmental Impact Declaration, the course of the term of the same will be suspended from its beginning and until the moment in which the procedure has a final court ruling. 2. The promoter may request the extension of the validity of the environmental impact statement before the term established in the previous section has elapsed. The request made by the promoter will suspend the term of validity of four years. 3. Once the application has been submitted, the environmental body may agree to extend the validity of the environmental impact statement in the event that there have not been substantial changes in the essential elements that served to carry out the environmental impact assessment, extending its validity by two additional years. After this period has elapsed without the execution of the project or activity having begun, the promoter must start the environmental impact assessment procedure of the project again. 4. The environmental body will decide on the request for extension within a period of three months from the date of submission of said request. The environmental body will request a report from the public administrations affected by reason of the matter in relation to the essential elements that served to carry out the environmental impact assessment. These Administrations must make a decision within a period of thirty days, which may be extended for another fifteen days, for duly justified reasons, a period during which the application resolution period will remain suspended. 5. Once the term has elapsed without the environmental body having resolved on the extension of the validity of the environmental impact statement, the request for extension shall be understood to have been rejected. Article 44. Modification of the conditions of the environmental impact statement. 1. The conditions of the environmental impact statement may be modified when any of the following circumstances occur: a) The entry into force of new regulations that substantially affect the compliance with the conditions established in the environmental impact statement. b) When the environmental impact statement establishes conditions whose compliance becomes impossible or unnecessary because the use of new and better techniques available at the time of formulating the request for modification allow a better and more adequate protection of the environment, with respect to the project. or action initially submitted to environmental impact assessment. c) When, during the monitoring of compliance with the environmental impact statement, it is detected that the preventive, corrective or compensatory measures are insufficient, unnecessary or ineffective. 2. The procedure for modifying the conditions of the impact statement environmental may be initiated ex officio or at the request of the promoter. The environmental body will initiate said procedure ex officio, either on its own initiative or by reasoned request of the substantive body, or by complaint, by agreement. 3. In the event that a reasoned petition or complaint has been received, the environmental body will request a report from the promoter with a copy to the substantive body on the petition. The substantive body will prepare a report with the observations it deems appropriate on the promoter's report. The environmental body must rule on the admissibility of agreeing to start the procedure within twenty business days from receipt of the substantive body's report. In the event that the environmental body agrees to start the procedure for modifying conditions, it will request the developer, or, where appropriate, the person who filed the complaint, through the substantive body, the presentation of the documentation to carry out the consult the affected Public Administrations and the people Page 41 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION stakeholders previously consulted. If the developer does not provide it within thirty business days, the environmental body will continue with the actions. 4. In the event that the procedure is initiated at the request of the developer, within a period of twenty business days from the receipt of the request from the developer to start the modification of the conditions of the environmental impact statement, the environmental body may resolve reasoned its inadmissibility, communicating this resolution to the substantive body. Faced with this resolution, the legally appropriate resources may be filed in administrative or judicial channels, as the case may be. 5. In order to decide on the request for modification of the environmental impact statement, the environmental body will consult the affected public administrations and previously consulted interested persons. The affected public administrations and interested persons must make a decision within a maximum period of thirty days. Once the term has elapsed without any reports or allegations having been received, the modification procedure will continue if the environmental body has sufficient evidence to do so. In this case, reports or allegations received subsequently will not be taken into account. If the environmental body does not have sufficient elements of judgment to continue with the modification procedure, either because the reports of the affected Public Administrations that are relevant have not been received, or because, having received them, they are insufficient to decide, it will require personally to the head of the body hierarchically superior to the one that would have to issue the report, so that within a period of ten days from receipt of the request, order the competent body to deliver the corresponding report within a period of ten days, without prejudice to the responsibilities that the person responsible for the delay may incur. The requirement made will be communicated to the substantive body and the promoter, and suspends the term for the formulation of the environmental impact statement. In any case, the developer may claim the issuance of the report from the competent Administration, through the procedure provided for in article 29.1 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, on Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction. 6. The maximum term of emission and notification of the resolution of the modification of the declaration of environmental impact will be of thirty days, counted from the reception of the reports requested to the administrations affected by reason of the matter. This resolution must be published in the “Official State Gazette” or corresponding official gazette. 7. For the purposes set forth in this article, the promoter of any project or activity subject to environmental impact assessment must inform the environmental body of the start date of the execution of the modification of the condition established in relation to said project or activity. Section 2 Simplified environmental impact assessment Article 45. Request to start the simplified environmental impact assessment. 1. Within the substantive procedure for project authorization, the promoter will submit to the substantive body, together with the documentation required by sectoral legislation, a request to start the simplified environmental impact assessment, accompanied by the environmental document with the following content: a) The motivation for applying the simplified environmental impact assessment procedure. b) The definition, characteristics and location of the project, in particular: 1st a description of the physical characteristics of the project in its three phases: construction, operation and termination; 2nd a description of the location of the project, in particular with regard to the environmentally sensitive nature of the geographical areas that may be affected. Page 42 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION c) A statement of the main alternatives studied, including the zero alternative, and a justification of the main reasons for the solution adopted, taking into account the environmental effects. d) A description of the environmental aspects that may be significantly affected by the project. e) A description and evaluation of all possible significant effects of the project on the environment, which are a consequence of: 1st the emissions and the expected waste and the generation of waste; 2nd the use of natural resources, particularly soil, land, water and biodiversity. In particular, the possible direct or indirect, cumulative and synergistic effects of the project on the population, human health, flora, fauna, biodiversity, soil, air, water, marine environment, etc., will be described and analysed. the climate, climate change, the landscape, material assets, including cultural heritage, and the interaction between all the aforementioned factors, during the phases of execution, exploitation and, where appropriate, during the demolition or abandonment of the project. When the project may directly or indirectly affect the Natura 2000 Network spaces, a specific section will be included for the evaluation of its repercussions on the site, taking into account the conservation objectives of the space. In the cases provided for in article 7.2.b), the repercussions on the site will be exclusively described and analysed, taking into account the conservation objectives of the Red Natura 2000 space. When the project may cause a long-term hydromorphological change in a body of surface water or an alteration in the level of a body of groundwater that may prevent it from reaching good status or potential, or that may imply a deterioration of its status or potential , a specific section will be included for the evaluation of its long-term repercussions on the quality elements that define the state or potential of the affected water masses. f) A specific section will be included that includes the identification, description, analysis and, if applicable, quantification of the expected effects on the factors listed in letter e), derived from the vulnerability of the project to the risk of serious accidents or catastrophes, on the risk of said accidents or catastrophes occurring, and about the probable significant adverse effects on the environment, in the event of their occurrence, or a justifying report on the non-application of this section to the project. The promoter may use the relevant information obtained through the risk assessments carried out in accordance with other regulations, such as the regulations relating to the control of the risks inherent in serious accidents involving dangerous substances, as well as the regulations that regulate the nuclear safety of nuclear facilities. g) The measures that allow preventing, reducing and compensating and, to the extent possible, correcting, any significant negative effect on the environment of the execution of the project. h) The way of monitoring that guarantees compliance with the indications and protective and corrective measures contained in the environmental document. The criteria in Annex III shall be taken into account, where appropriate, when compiling the information pursuant to this section. The promoter will take into account, where appropriate, the available results of other relevant evaluations of the effects on the environment that are carried out in accordance with other regulations. The developer may also provide a description of any features of the project and measures envisaged to prevent what might otherwise have been significant adverse effects on the environment. 2. If the substantive body verifies that the start request does not include the documents indicated in the previous section, it will require the promoter to submit the required documents within a period of ten business days, with the effects provided for in article 68 of the Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations. Regarding the environmental document prepared by the Page 43 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION promoter, basic document for carrying out the simplified environmental impact assessment, it will be verified that the specific sections contemplated in article 45.1 have been included in it. Likewise, the substantive body will verify that the project and the documentation presented in accordance with the sectoral legislation meet the requirements demanded therein. 3. Once the previous verifications have been carried out, the substantive body will send the environmental body the initiation request and the documents that must accompany it. 4. Within a period of twenty business days from receipt of the request to start the simplified environmental impact assessment, the environmental body may resolve its inadmissibility for any of the following reasons: a) If it unequivocally estimates that the project is manifestly unfeasible due to environmental reasons. b) If it considers that the environmental document does not meet sufficient quality conditions. Prior to the adoption of the resolution by which the inadmissibility is agreed, the environmental body will give a hearing to the promoter, informing the substantive body of this, for a period of ten working days that suspends the time provided for declaring the inadmission. The resolution of inadmissibility will justify the reasons for which it is appreciated, and against it, legally appropriate administrative and judicial resources may be filed, where appropriate. Article 46. Consultations with affected public administrations and interested persons. 1. The environmental body will consult the affected public administrations and interested persons, making the environmental document of the project referred to in the previous article available to them. 2. The public administrations affected and the interested parties consulted must make a decision within a maximum period of twenty days from the receipt of the report request. Once this period has elapsed without the pronouncement having been received, the procedure will continue if the environmental body has sufficient elements of judgment to formulate the environmental impact report. In this case, the aforementioned pronouncements that are received later will not be taken into account. 3. If the environmental body does not have sufficient elements of judgment either because the relevant reports from the affected public Administrations have not been received, or because, having received them, they are insufficient to decide, it will personally request the head of the body hierarchically superior of the one that would have to issue the report, so that within a period of ten days, counted from the receipt of the request, order the competent body to deliver the corresponding report within a period of ten days, without prejudice to the responsibilities in that the person responsible for the delay may incur. In any case, the developer may claim the issuance of the report from the competent Administration, through the procedure provided for in article 29.1 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, of the Contentious- Administrative Jurisdiction. Article 47. Environmental impact report. 1. The environmental body will formulate the environmental impact report within a period of three months counted from the receipt of the application for initiation and the documents that must accompany it. 2. The environmental body, taking into account the information provided by the developer, the results of the consultations carried out and, where appropriate, the results of preliminary verifications or evaluations of the environmental effects carried out in accordance with other legislation, will resolve by issuing of the environmental impact report, which may determine in a reasoned manner in accordance with the criteria of Annex III that: Page 44 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION a) The project must undergo a regular environmental impact assessment because it could have significant effects on the environment. In this case, the promoter will prepare the environmental impact study in accordance with article 35. For this, the promoter may request the environmental body the scope document of the environmental impact study under the terms of article 34. b) The project does not have significant adverse effects on the environment, in the terms established in the environmental impact report, which will indicate at least the characteristics of the project and the measures planned to prevent what, otherwise, could have been significant adverse effects on the environment. c) It is not possible to dictate a well-founded resolution on the possible adverse effects of the project on the environment, as the environmental body does not have sufficient elements of judgment, proceeding to the termination of the procedure with filing of actions. 3. The environmental impact report will be published in the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette, within ten business days following its formulation, without prejudice to its publication in the electronic headquarters of the environmental body. 4. In the case provided for in section 2.b) the environmental impact report will lose its validity and will cease to produce its own effects if, once published in the "Official State Gazette" or corresponding official gazette , the authorization of the project would not have been carried out within a maximum period of four years from its publication, unless the extension of the validity of the environmental impact report is agreed in the terms provided in the following sections. 5. The environmental impact report will not be subject to any appeal without prejudice to those that, where appropriate, proceed in administrative or judicial channels against the act, where appropriate, of authorization of the project. 6. The promoter may request the extension of the validity of the environmental impact report before the four-year period provided for in section 4 elapses. The request made by the promoter will suspend this period. 7. Once the request has been submitted, the environmental body may agree to extend the validity of the environmental impact report in the event that there have been no substantial changes in the essential elements that served to carry out the simplified environmental impact assessment, extending its validity by two additional years. Once this period has elapsed without the execution of the project or activity having begun, the promoter must start the environmental impact assessment procedure for the project again. 8. The environmental body will decide on the request for extension within a period of three months from the date of submission of said request. Previously, the environmental body will request a report from the Public Administrations affected by reason of the matter in relation to the essential elements that served to carry out the simplified environmental impact assessment. These Administrations must make a decision within thirty days, which may be extended, for duly justified reasons, for fifteen more days, a period during which the application resolution period will remain suspended. 9. Once the term has elapsed without the environmental body having resolved on the extension of the validity of the environmental impact report, the request for extension shall be understood to have been rejected. Article 48. Authorization of the project and publicity. 1. The substantive body must duly take into account, in the project authorization procedure, the environmental impact assessment carried out, including the results of the consultations. 2. The decision to grant the authorization will include, at least, the following information: a) The conclusion of the environmental impact report on the significant effects of the environmental project. b) The environmental conditions established in the environmental impact report, as well as a description of the characteristics of the project and the measures planned to prevent, correct and compensate and, if possible, counteract adverse effects. Page 45 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION significant in the environment, as well as, where appropriate, monitoring measures and the body in charge of it. 3. The decision to deny an authorization will indicate the main reasons for the denial. 4. In the case provided for in article 47.2.b), in the shortest possible time and, in any case, within ten business days from the decision to authorize or deny the project, it will be published in the «Official Gazette of the State" or corresponding official gazette, for publication, an extract of the content of said decision. Likewise, it will publish in its electronic headquarters the content of the decision and the conditions that may accompany it, the main reasons and considerations on which the decision is based, including the information collected in accordance with article 46, and how that information has been incorporated or considered, in particular, the observations received from the affected Member State referred to in article 49, and a reference to the “Official State Gazette” or corresponding official gazette in which the environmental impact report was published. 5. The information referred to in the previous section shall be sent to the Member States that have been consulted according to Chapter III of this title, regarding cross-border consultations. CHAPTER III Cross-border inquiries Article 49. Consultation with other States in environmental assessment procedures. 1. When the execution in Spain of a plan, program or project may have significant effects on the environment of another Member State of the European Union or of another State that Spain is obliged to consult by virtue of international instruments, the The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation will notify said State of the existence of the plan, program or project, and the adoption, approval or authorization procedure to which it is subject, granting it a period of thirty days to rule on its intention to participate in it. the environmental assessment procedure. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation will make the notification at the request of the substantive body or at the request of the State that may be affected. 2. The notification referred to in the previous section will be made as soon as possible and, at the latest, when the public information process begins. When the environmental assessment procedure includes the procedure for determining the scope document of the strategic environmental study or the environmental impact study, the notification may be made during this procedure and at the request of the environmental body. 3. The notification to the State that may be affected shall be accompanied by the following documentation: a) A summary of the adoption, approval or authorization procedure to which the plan, program or project is subject, including the environmental assessment, and the phase of the procedure in which the cross-border consultations will take place. It will include information on the nature of possible decisions that may be made. b) The initial version of the plan or program and the part of the strategic environmental study related to the possible transboundary effects, in the case of plans or programs, or the project and the part of the environmental impact study related to the possible transboundary effects, in the case of projects. c) When the notification is made in the process of determining the scope document of the strategic environmental study or the environmental impact study, it will include the initial document of the plan, program or project instead of the documentation indicated in letter b). 4. If the affected State expresses its intention to participate in the environmental assessment procedure, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, in collaboration with the environmental body and the substantive body, and taking into account the bilateral or multilateral agreements signed by Spain to that effect: Page 46 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION a) Set a timetable for carrying out cross-border consultations and the measures that must be adopted to guarantee that the affected public authorities and the interested public of said State can participate effectively in the environmental assessment procedure, including which documents must be translated. . The necessary measures will be adopted so that they have the opportunity to express their opinion on the information provided by the promoter and on the request for authorization of the project. b) Send the initial version of the plan or program and the part of the strategic environmental study related to possible cross-border effects, in the case of plans or programs, or the project and the part of the environmental impact study related to possible cross-border effects, in the case of projects, when this documentation has not already been sent. The main reports and opinions made by the competent bodies may be made available. The period for carrying out the consultations provided for in this section may not exceed three months. 5. The observations formulated by the environmental authorities and the interested public of the affected State will be taken into account in the formulation of the strategic environmental declaration or in the formulation of the environmental impact declaration. 6. The deadlines provided for in this law for the environmental evaluation of plans, programs and projects will be suspended as long as the cross-border consultations have not been completed. 7. The environmental body will send to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, for its transfer to the affected State, the resolution by which the strategic environmental declaration of the plan or program is formulated, or the environmental impact declaration of the project. Likewise, the substantive body will send to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, for its transfer to the affected State, the approved plan or program or the authorized project. 8. When the competence for the adoption, approval or authorization of a plan, program or project corresponds to an Autonomous Community, it will carry out all the procedures provided for in this article through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, reporting it to the Ministry responsible for the environment. 9. The State, through specific international agreements, may establish a common body on the basis of equitable representation to facilitate the necessary cooperation in projects with potential cross-border impact. Article 50. Consultations of other States in their environmental evaluation procedures. 1. When a State notifies that a plan, program or project planned in its territory may have significant environmental effects in Spain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation will inform the other State, after consulting the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment about the willingness to participate or not in the corresponding environmental assessment. Likewise, when the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment or an autonomous community considers that the execution of a plan, program or project of another State may have significant effects on the Spanish environment, it will request said State, through the Ministry of Affairs and Foreign Affairs and Cooperation to be notified of the existence of the plan, program or project, and the adoption, approval or authorization procedure to which it is subject, in order to assess the willingness to participate or not in the corresponding environmental assessment. 2. Once the willingness to participate in the environmental assessment has been expressed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, and taking into account the bilateral or multilateral agreements signed by Spain for this purpose, will request relevant information on the plan, program or project and its possible significant transboundary effects on the environment. Page 47 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION When the consultations with the affected public administrations and the interested public are not regulated in another law or in bilateral or multilateral agreements signed by Spain for this purpose, they will be carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, in the terms referred to. in articles 36 and 38. 3. Once the consultations have been made with the affected public administrations and the interested public and the technical analysis of the file has been carried out, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment will send the State of origin, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, a report on the following aspects: a) The result of the consultations with the affected public administrations and the public interested. b) The conclusions on the cross-border impacts of the project, the alternatives studied, the preventive, corrective and, if applicable, follow-up measures, as well as the way in which these must be taken into account in the plan, program or project. 4. When the final decision of the plan, program or project is received, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment will make it public at its electronic headquarters. TITLE III Monitoring and penalty regime CHAPTER I Tracing Article 51. Monitoring of strategic environmental declarations and strategic environmental reports. 1. The substantive bodies or the bodies that, where appropriate, are designated by the autonomous communities with respect to plans or programs that are not under state jurisdiction, must monitor the effects on the environment of their application or execution, among others. other things, promptly identify unforeseen adverse effects and enable appropriate measures to be taken to avoid them. For these purposes, the promoter will submit to the substantive body, under the terms established in the strategic environmental statement or in the strategic environmental report, a follow-up report on compliance with the strategic environmental statement or strategic environmental report. The monitoring report will include a checklist of the measures provided for in the environmental monitoring program. The environmental monitoring program and the checklist will be made public in the electronic headquarters of the substantive body. 2. The environmental body will participate in the follow-up of said plans or programs. To this end, the environmental body may collect information and carry out the checks it deems necessary. 3. The strategic environmental declarations and the strategic environmental reports of plans and programs of state competence, may establish, at the proposal of the substantive body and with the express agreement of the autonomous community, that the monitoring of certain environmental conditions, criteria or indicators be carried out by the competent body of the autonomous community. 4. To avoid duplication, existing monitoring mechanisms may be used. Article 52. Monitoring of environmental impact statements and environmental impact reports. 1. It corresponds to the substantive body or bodies that, where appropriate, designate the autonomous communities with respect to projects that do not fall under state jurisdiction, monitoring compliance with the environmental impact statement or the environmental impact report. 2. The environmental impact statement or the environmental impact report may define, if necessary, the monitoring requirements for compliance with the conditions Page 48 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION established in them, as well as the type of parameters that must be monitored and the duration of the monitoring, which will be provided in relation to the nature, location and dimensions of the project and the importance of its impact on the environment. For these purposes, the promoter will send to the substantive body, in the event that this has been determined in the environmental impact statement or the environmental impact report and in the terms established in the aforementioned resolutions, a follow-up report on compliance with the conditions, or preventive, corrective and compensatory measures established in the environmental impact statement. The monitoring report will include a checklist of the measures provided for in the environmental monitoring program. The environmental surveillance program and the verification list will be made public in the electronic headquarters of the substantive body and previously, the environmental body will be informed of its publication in the electronic headquarters. 3. The promoter is obliged to allow officials who hold the status of public authority access to the facilities and places linked to the execution of the project, in accordance with the guarantees provided for in article 18 of the Constitution. Likewise, the promoter will be obliged to provide them with the necessary collaboration for its development, providing as much information and documentation as may be required for this purpose. 4. The environmental impact statements and the environmental impact reports of projects of state competence, except for projects subject to nuclear energy regulations and those destined for the production of explosives, may establish, at the proposal of the substantive body and with the agreement of the autonomous community, that the monitoring of certain conditions, preventive, corrective and compensatory measures be carried out by the competent body of the autonomous community. 5. The environmental body may carry out checks and collect information, to verify compliance with the conditions of the environmental impact statement or the environmental impact report, as well as evaluate the degree of implementation, the results, the effectiveness and the efficiency of the evaluations. of environmental impact carried out, allow continuous improvement of the method based on feedback and compile statistics. 6. To avoid duplication, existing monitoring mechanisms may be used. CHAPTER II Sanctions regime Article 53. Sanctioning power. The sanctioning power will correspond to the substantive body in private projects that must be authorized by the General Administration of the State and to the bodies determined by the autonomous communities in their field of competence. Article 54. Subjects responsible for the infractions. 1. The promoters of projects that have the status of private natural or legal person who are responsible for them may be sanctioned for the acts constituting the administrative offenses regulated in this chapter. 2. In the event that compliance with a legal obligation corresponds to several people jointly, they will respond jointly and severally for the infractions that, if any, are committed and the sanctions that are imposed. Article 55. Offenses in the field of environmental impact assessment. 1. Notwithstanding the infractions that, where appropriate, the autonomous communities may establish, the infractions regarding environmental impact assessment in the case of private projects carried out by a private individual or legal entity are classified as very serious, serious and mild. 2. The beginning of the execution of a project, including those subject to a responsible declaration or prior communication, submitted to an ordinary environmental impact assessment without having previously obtained the corresponding environmental impact declaration, is a very serious infraction. Page 49 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 3. The following are serious infractions: a) The beginning of the execution of a project, including those subject to responsible declaration or prior communication, subject to simplified environmental impact assessment without having previously obtained the environmental impact report. b) The concealment of data, its distortion or malicious manipulation in the evaluation procedure. c) Non-compliance with the environmental conditions, of the corrective or compensatory measures established in the environmental impact statement and included in the resolution that finally approves or authorizes the project, or non-compliance with the environmental conditions established in the environmental report, and included in the resolution that finally approves or authorizes the project or, where appropriate, in the responsible statement or prior communication of the project. d) Failure to comply with the requirement agreed upon by the Administration for the suspension of the execution of the project. 4. Non-compliance with any of the obligations or requirements is a minor infraction. contained in this Law, when it is not typified as very serious or serious. 5. In the event that the same offender commits various actions that could be considered as several infractions, as many sanctions as infractions would have been committed will be imposed. In the event that the same facts could constitute various infractions, the sanction corresponding to the most serious infraction in its upper half will be imposed. In the event that some facts constitute a qualifying infringement as a means or instrument to ensure the commission of other acts also constituting an infringement so that these necessarily derive from those, the most serious sanction will be imposed in its upper half. 6. The infractions will prescribe in the following terms, which will be computed from the day of the commission of the offence: a) Very serious infractions after three years. b) Serious offenses after two years. c) Minor infractions per year. Article 56. Sanctions corresponding to infractions in terms of environmental impact assessment. 1. The infractions typified in the previous article will give rise to the imposition of the following sanctions: a) In the case of a very serious infraction: fine from 240,401 to 2,404,000 euros. b) In the case of serious offences: fine from 24,001 to 240,400 euros. c) In the case of minor offences: a fine of up to 24,000 euros. 2. The sanctions will prescribe in the following terms that will be computed from the day following the one in which the resolution by which the sanction is imposed becomes final: a) Very serious sanctions after three years. b) Serious sanctions after two years. c) Light sanctions per year. The sanctions will be imposed taking into account the circumstances of the person responsible, degree of guilt, repetition, participation and benefit obtained and degree of damage caused to the environment or the danger in which the health of people has been exposed, and must be effective, dissuasive and proportionate. , in accordance with the provisions of article 29 of Law 40/2015, of October 1, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector. 3. Notwithstanding the provisions of this article, the imposition of a final sanction for the commission of a very serious infraction will entail the prohibition of contracting established in article 60.1.c) of the Consolidated Text of the Public Sector Contracts Law. approved by Royal Legislative Decree 3/2011 of November 14 or regulation that, where appropriate, replaces it. Page 50 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 4. If the behaviors sanctioned had caused damage or harm to the Public Administration or the environment, lacking specific provision in the sectoral legislation, the resolution of the procedure will declare: a) The requirement for the offender to return to its original state the situation altered by the infraction. In this regard, when the commission of an infringement of those provided for in this rule produces environmental damage, it will proceed in accordance with the provisions of Law 26/2007, of October 23, on Environmental Responsibility or the regulations that, in its case, it is issued for that purpose. O well, b) Compensation for damages caused, when the amount has been determined during the procedure. 5. The provisions of this article are understood without prejudice to the powers of the autonomous communities in the matter. Article 57. Concurrence of sanctions. 1. Facts that have been penalized criminally or administratively may not be penalized, in cases where the identity of the subject, fact and foundation is appreciated. 2. When the alleged offending act could constitute a crime or misdemeanor, the blame will be transferred to the Public Prosecutor, suspending from that very moment the processing of the sanctioning procedure until the judicial authority has issued a firm resolution that puts an end to the procedure. or the proceedings are dismissed or archived or the file is returned by the Public Prosecutor's Office. If the existence of a crime or misdemeanor has not been appreciated, the competent administrative body will continue the disciplinary proceedings. The facts declared proven in the final judicial resolution will bind the administrative body. CHAPTER III disciplinary procedure Article 58. Initiation. 1. Sanctioning procedures will always be initiated ex officio, by agreement of the competent body, either on its own initiative or as a result of a higher order, reasoned request from other bodies or a complaint. 2. Prior to the initiation of the procedure, preliminary actions may be carried out in order to determine on a preliminary basis if there are circumstances that justify such initiation. In particular, these actions will be aimed at determining, with the greatest possible precision, the facts likely to motivate the initiation of the procedure, the identification of the person or persons who could be responsible and the relevant circumstances that concur in one and the other. 3. The previous actions may be carried out both by the substantive body responsible for monitoring and by the environmental body responsible for inspection on the matter. 4. The agreement to initiate sanctioning procedures will be formalized with the following minimum content: a) Identification of the person or private individuals or legal entities allegedly responsible. b) The facts briefly stated that motivate the initiation of the procedure, its possible qualification and the sanctions that may correspond, without prejudice to what results from the investigation. c) Instructor and, where appropriate, Secretary of the procedure, with express indication of the disqualification regime for them. d) Competent body for the resolution of the file and rule that attributes such competence. Page 51 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION e) Provisional measures that have been agreed by the competent body to initiate the disciplinary procedure, without prejudice to those that may be adopted during the same in accordance with the following article. f) Indication of the right to make allegations and to be heard in the procedure and of the deadlines for its exercise. 5. The initiation agreement will be communicated to the instructor, with transfer of any actions that exist in this regard, and the complainant, if any, and the interested parties will be notified, understanding in any case the accused as such. Article 59. Provisional measures. 1. The competent body for the investigation of the disciplinary procedure, in cases of urgency and for the provisional protection of the interests involved, may adopt the essential provisional measures prior to the initiation of the disciplinary procedure, with the limits and conditions established in the Article 72 of Law 30/1992, of November 26, and other applicable regulations. 2. Once the sanctioning procedure has been initiated, the competent body to resolve, ex officio or at the request of the environmental body, may at any time and by means of a reasoned agreement, agree to suspend the execution of the project and adopt other provisional measures that ensure the effectiveness of the final resolution that could relapse. Article 60. Instruction. 1. Interested parties will have a period of fifteen days to provide as many allegations, documents or information as they deem appropriate and, where appropriate, propose evidence specifying the means they intend to use. In the notification of the initiation of the procedure, said term will be indicated to the interested parties. 2. Once the notification referred to in the previous point has been issued, the instructor of the procedure will ex officio carry out as many actions as are necessary for the examination of the facts, collecting the data and information that are relevant to determine, where appropriate, the existence of responsibilities liable to penalty. 3. If, as a result of the investigation of the procedure, the initial determination of the facts, of their possible classification, of the taxable sanctions or of the responsibilities subject to sanction were modified, all this will be notified to the accused in the resolution proposal, and a period of time must be granted. of fifteen days for the formulation of allegations in this regard. Article 61. Test. 1. Once the allegations have been received or the period established for it has elapsed, the examining body may agree to open a trial period, in accordance with the provisions of articles 80 et seq. and 137.4 of Law 30/1992 on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and Common Administrative Procedure, for a period not exceeding thirty days and not less than ten days. 2. The facts verified by officials to whom the condition of authority is recognized, and that are formalized in a public document observing the pertinent legal requirements, will have probative value, without prejudice to the evidence that may be indicated in defense of the respective rights or interests. or provide the administrators themselves. Article 62. Resolution proposal. Once the test is concluded, where appropriate, the body investigating the procedure will formulate a resolution proposal in which the facts will be set out in a reasoned manner, specifying those that are considered proven and their exact legal qualification, the infraction that, in its case, will be determined. , those they constitute and the person or persons who are responsible, specifying the sanction proposed to be imposed and the provisional measures that have been adopted, if applicable, by the competent body to initiate the procedure or by the instructor of the same; or the declaration of non-existence of infraction or responsibility will be proposed. Page 52 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Article 63. Hearing. 1. The resolution proposal will be notified to the interested parties, indicating the disclosure of the procedure. The notification will be accompanied by a list of the documents in the procedure so that the interested parties can obtain copies of those they deem appropriate, granting them a period of fifteen days to make allegations and present the documents and information they deem pertinent to the procedure instructor. 2. The hearing process may be dispensed with when other facts or other allegations and evidence are not included in the procedure or taken into account other than those adduced, where appropriate, by the interested party. 3. The resolution proposal will be immediately forwarded to the competent body to resolve the procedure, together with all the documents, allegations and information that are in the same. Article 64. Resolution. 1. Before issuing a resolution, the body competent to resolve may decide, by means of a reasoned agreement, to carry out the complementary actions essential to resolve the procedure. The agreement to carry out complementary actions will be notified to the interested parties, granting them a period of seven days to formulate the allegations that they deem pertinent. Complementary actions must be carried out within a period not exceeding fifteen days. The term to resolve the procedure will be suspended until the completion of the complementary actions. The reports that immediately precede the final resolution of the procedure will not be considered complementary actions. 2. The competent body will dictate a resolution that will be motivated and will decide all the questions raised by the interested parties and those arising from the procedure. The resolution will be adopted within a period of one month from receipt of the proposal for resolution and the documents, allegations and information contained in the procedure. 3. In the resolution, facts other than those determined in the investigation phase of the procedure may not be accepted, except those that result, where appropriate, from the application of the provisions of number 1 of this article, regardless of their different legal assessment. However, and only when the body competent to resolve considers that the infringement is more serious than that determined in the resolution proposal, the accused will be notified so that he can provide as many allegations as he deems appropriate, granting him a period of fifteen days. 4. The resolutions of the sanctioning procedures, in addition to containing the elements provided for in article 89.3 of Law 30/1992 on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and the Common Administrative Procedure, will include the assessment of the tests carried out, and especially of those that constitute the basic foundations of the decision will establish the facts and, where appropriate, the person or persons responsible, the infraction or infractions committed and the sanction or sanctions that are imposed, or the declaration of non-existence of infraction or responsibility. 5. The resolutions will be notified to the interested parties. If the procedure had been initiated as a result of a superior order or reasoned request, the resolution will also be communicated to the administrative body that authored it. 6. The expiration of the disciplinary file will be declared if after a period of one year since the initiation agreement was issued, the resolution had not been notified. First additional provision. Evaluation of projects subject to responsible declaration or prior communication. 1. The environmental impact assessment procedures regulated in this law will apply to projects that, being included in its scope of application, do not require an authorization but rather a responsible statement or prior communication provided for in article 71 bis of Law 30. /1992, of November 26, on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and Common Administrative Procedure. Page 53 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 2. Without prejudice to the provisions of regional regulations, when it corresponds to the General State Administration to formulate the environmental impact statement or issue the environmental impact report, the functions attributed to the substantive body must be carried out by the environmental body. 3. The obligations to publish the authorization of the project will be understood to have been fulfilled with the publication of the environmental impact statement or the environmental impact report. 4. In these cases, against the environmental impact statement and the environmental impact report, appeals may be filed that, where appropriate, proceed through administrative or judicial channels. Second additional provision. Plans and programs co-financed by the European Union. The environmental evaluation of plans and programs co-financed by the European Union will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Community regulations that are applicable to it. Third additional provision. Information obligations. 1. In accordance with article 12.2 of Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of December 13, 2011, regarding the evaluation of the repercussions of certain public and private projects on the environment, the Ministry that holds the powers in environmental matters will send to the European Commission, every six years from May 16, 2017, information on: a) The number of projects that have undergone an impact assessment environment and its breakdown by project categories provided for in annexes I and II. b) The number of projects submitted to a simplified environmental impact assessment. c) The average duration of the environmental impact assessment process. d) General estimates of the average direct cost of evaluations of environmental impact, including the impact derived from the application of this law to SMEs. For these purposes, and in order to have up-to-date information, the autonomous communities will send to the Ministry in charge of environmental matters, the information referred to in relation to the projects submitted to environmental impact assessment in its area of competence before December 31 of each year. 2. Likewise, the Public Administrations will provide the Ministry that holds the powers in environmental matters with any other information that is necessary for compliance with other information obligations derived from international and community law. Fourth additional provision. Relation of the environmental evaluation with other norms. For those plans, programs or projects for which there is an obligation to carry out an environmental assessment by virtue of this law and by virtue of other regulations, the competent public administrations will establish coordinated or joint procedures in order to avoid duplication of evaluations. Fifth additional provision. Concurrence and hierarchy of plans or programs. 1. When there is a concurrence of plans or programs promoted by different Public Administrations, they must adopt the necessary measures so that they can complement each other and to avoid duplication of evaluations, ensuring that all the significant environmental effects of each one are conveniently evaluated. 2. When the plans and programs are structured in different hierarchical decision-making areas of the same public Administration, the environmental assessment in each of them must be carried out taking into account the phase of the decision process in which the plan or program is located, to avoid duplication of evaluations. Page 54 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Sixth additional provision. State-owned infrastructures. For the purposes of the provisions of the fourth additional provision, on concurrence and hierarchy of plans or programs, the infrastructures owned by state in whose sectoral planning the environmental evaluation has been carried out in accordance with the provisions of this law. In such cases, the competent public Administration for the approval of the urban or territorial planning plan may demand that aspects not specifically considered in the first environmental evaluation be taken into account. Seventh additional provision. Environmental evaluation of the plans, programs and projects that may affect spaces of the Natura 2000 Network. 1. The evaluation of the plans, programs and projects that, without having a direct relationship with the management of a Natura 2000 Network space or without being necessary for it, may significantly affect the aforementioned places, either individually or in combination with other plans, programs or projects, will be submitted, within the procedures provided for in this law, to an adequate evaluation of their repercussions in the place taking into account the conservation objectives of said place, in accordance with the provisions of Law 42/ 2007, of December 13, of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. To certify that a plan, program or project is directly related to the management of a Natura 2000 Network space or is necessary for its management, the promoter may indicate the corresponding section of the management plan in which said circumstance is stated, or request a report to the competent body for the management of said space. Likewise, to certify that a plan, program or project is not likely to cause appreciable adverse effects on a Natura 2000 Network space, the promoter may indicate the corresponding section of the management plan in which it is expressly stated, as a permitted activity, the object of said plan, program or project, or request a report from the competent body for the management of said space. In the cases provided for in the two preceding paragraphs, it will not be necessary to submit the plan, program or project to environmental assessment. 2. In the case of plans, programs and projects under the jurisdiction of the General State Administration, in view of the conclusions of the environmental assessment on the Natura 2000 Network spaces, and subject to the provisions of article 46 of Law 42/ 2007, of December 13, of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, the Ministry responsible for the environment will establish and supervise the necessary compensatory measures to guarantee the global coherence of the Natura 2000 Network. competent body of the affected autonomous communities, which will have a period of thirty working days for its evacuation, after which without the report having been received, the proceedings may continue. 3. The remission, where appropriate, of the information to the European Commission on the compensatory measures Red Natura 2000 that have been adopted will be carried out by the competent Ministry for the environment through the procedure established by regulation. Eighth additional provision. Nature conservation banks. 1. Nature conservation banks are a set of environmental titles or conservation credits granted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment and, where appropriate, by the autonomous communities, which represent specifically created or improved natural values. 2. Nature conservation banks will be created by resolution of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment and, where appropriate, of the autonomous communities. In said resolution, the actions will be described, identifying the farms in which they are carried out, indicating their cadastral reference and, where appropriate, the number of the registered farm; Likewise, the attribution of the number of credits that the general direction of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment competent in matters of the natural environment grants, or the body that the corresponding community determines for this purpose. Page 55 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION autonomously, to the owners of the land, in accordance with the technical criteria established in the resolution creating each conservation bank. 3. The owners of the land affected by the banks must preserve the natural values created or improved, and these lands must only be used for uses that are compatible with the aforementioned natural values, in accordance with the provisions of the creation resolution of each bank of nature conservation. This limitation of the domain will be recorded in the Land Registry in the registration of the farm or farms in which the improvement or creation of natural assets has been carried out. To this end, the administrative certificate that the action to create or improve the natural asset is registered in the corresponding nature conservation bank will be a sufficient title to carry out this registration. 4. Conservation credits may constitute the compensatory or complementary measures provided for in the legislation on environmental assessment, environmental responsibility or natural heritage and biodiversity, with the aim that the negative effects caused to a natural value are balanced by the positive effects. generated on the same or similar natural value, in the same or different place. 5. The credits granted to each bank may be transferred under a free market regime and will be proposed by each granting Administration, for registration in a shared and unique public Registry throughout the national territory, dependent on the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment. . 6. Violations of the regulations governing nature conservation banks will be penalized in accordance with the provisions of the regulations governing Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. 7. The general regime, organization, operation and technical criteria of banks of Nature conservation will be developed according to regulations. Ninth additional provision. Certifications on environmental assessments. For the purposes of the provisions of the European regulations on community funds, the environmental body of the General State Administration will be the competent authority for the issuance of the certification of non-affection to the Natura 2000 Network of the projects whose authorization corresponds to the Administration. General of the State and in whose environmental impact assessment, when this is mandatory, it has been determined that there are no effects on Red Natura 2000 spaces. For the same purposes, the environmental body of the General State Administration will only issue certifications on the inclusion of a project in the scope of application of the law in the case of projects that have undergone an environmental impact assessment and have a pronouncement environmental. Tenth additional provision. periodic operations. 1. In the case of projects subject to environmental assessment that consist of actions with a total duration of less than one year that are likely to be repeated periodically in successive years under identical conditions through projects that would have to be authorized by the same substantive body with the same promoter, the environmental body may establish in the environmental impact statement that it may extend its effects for such projects for a number of years not exceeding four, and taking into account the impacts of a cumulative nature. 2. In these cases, the formulation of a prior request by the substantive body will be mandatory, at the request of the promoter, when the file is sent, warning of this possibility and justifying the identity between the operations that will periodically be repeated in the number of years not higher than that provided for in the previous section. The environmental impact study will contemplate periodic actions in a scenario not exceeding four years, and the promoter will prepare a special monitoring plan, which will include the measures that allow the execution of the project for a number of years not exceeding four. . The environmental impact study will adequately identify and evaluate the impacts of a cumulative nature. Page 56 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 3. In case of alteration of the determining circumstances of the favorable environmental impact statement, the environmental body will resolve that the environmental impact statement has lost its validity and lacks its own effects. Eleventh additional provision. Accumulation of environmental impact assessment procedures. In general, each environmental impact assessment procedure must refer to a single project. However, the environmental body may agree to the accumulation of procedures when the circumstances indicated in article 73 of Law 30/1992, of November 26, on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and Common Administrative Procedure concur. Twelfth additional provision. Supplementary regime. In everything not provided for in this law, Law 30/1992, of November 26, on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and Common Administrative Procedure will be applied, when appropriate. Thirteenth additional provision. Electronic processing. The procedures regulated in this law will be carried out electronically in the electronic offices that the competent public administrations enable for this purpose, in the terms established in Title III of Law 11/2007, of June 22, of electronic access of the citizens to public services. Fourteenth additional provision. Records for the identification of interested persons. 1. In order to identify the interested persons who must be consulted in accordance with the provisions of this law, the Public Administrations may create records for the registration of natural or legal persons who prove the status of interested person. 2. By virtue of the principles of mutual information, cooperation and collaboration, the Public Administrations will establish the most effective mechanisms for an effective exchange of information on the interested persons who have been identified, in particular, through the interconnection of the registries that they think. Fifteenth additional provision. Operating rules for the Tajo-Segura Transfer. 1. Depending on the joint stocks in Entrepeñas and Buendía at the beginning of each month, the following monthly levels are established according to which the transfers will be carried out, with a total annual maximum of 650 hm3 in each hydrological year ( 600 for the Segura and 50 for the Guadiana). Level 1. It will occur when the joint stocks in Entrepeñas and Buendía are equal to or greater than 1,500 hm3 , or when the incoming joint contributions to these reservoirs in the last twelve months are equal to or greater than 1,000 hm3 . In this case, the competent body will authorize a monthly transfer of 68 hm3 , up to the aforementioned annual maximum. Level 2. It will occur when the joint stocks of Entrepeñas and Buendía are less than 1,500 hm3 , without reaching the volumes foreseen in Level 3, and the joint contributions registered in the last twelve months are less than 1,000 hm3 . In this case, the competent body will authorize a monthly transfer of 38 hm3 , up to the aforementioned annual maximum. Level 3. Of exceptional hydrological situations, it will occur when the joint stocks in Entrepeñas and Buendía do not exceed, at the beginning of each month, the values determined by the current Tagus Hydrological Plan. The Government, through the royal decree provided later in this section, will establish for level 3 the maximum monthly transfer that the competent body may authorize discretionally and in a reasoned manner, Page 57 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION as well as the aforementioned monthly values, defining level 3, with the sole purpose indicated below. Level 4. This situation will occur when the joint stocks in Entrepeñas and Buendía are less than 400 hm3 in which case no transfer can be approved. , With the sole objective of providing greater inter-annual stability to supplies, minimizing the presentation of exceptional hydrological situations referred to in level 3, without modifying in any case the annual maximum of transferable water, at the justified proposal of the Ministry competent in matters of water, and following a favorable report from the Central Commission for the Exploitation of the Tajo-Segura Aqueduct, both the volume of stocks and that of accumulated contributions contemplated in level 1, as well as the monthly transfer volumes corresponding to levels 1, 2, 3 and the volumes of stocks for each month corresponding to level 3. Likewise, this royal decree will define the contribution prediction criteria for the application of the rule in multimonthly horizons. For the purposes of favoring the development of riverside municipalities, the system will be operated in such a way that the volume of transfer already authorized and pending application is preferably kept in the headwater reservoirs, rather than in other storage in transit or destination, provided that such exploitation is compatible with a rational and integrated management of the joint system. Except in duly motivated catastrophic situations or situations of extreme necessity, which prevent the delivery of water, if the approved volumes provided for in levels 1 and 2 had not been transferred within the authorized period, they may be transferred within three months following the end of the period. authorization, unless there is a change of level. The resources whose transfer has already been authorized may be used by their users throughout the hydrological year, until the end of it. In the event that at the end of the hydrological year there is any available volume of transferred water in the receiving basin, it will be subject to a new distribution, considering it as an exploitable resource for the corresponding uses of the transfer in the following hydrological year. The volumes whose transfer has been authorized will be distributed between supplies and irrigation, in the proportion of 25 percent for supply and the remaining 75 percent for irrigation, up to the maximum of their annual allocations, and always ensuring at least 7.5 hm3 /month for urban supplies. 2. The Central Commission for the Exploitation of the Tajo-Segura Aqueduct will authorize the transfers when the hydrological conditions of Levels 1 and 2 concur, and the Minister who has powers in matters of water, following a report from this Commission, when the conditions concur. of Level 3. In the case of levels 1 and 2, the authorization of the transfers will be carried out preferably by semesters, while in the case of level 3 it will be carried out preferably by quarters, unless the competent body justifies the authorization at any of the levels. use of different terms. 3. Prior to the first meeting of the hydrological year of the Central Commission for the Exploitation of the Tajo-Segura Aqueduct, and in any case, before the first authorization of the transfer, exclusively at levels 1 and 2, the General Directorate of Water will prepare, for consideration by the Central Exploitation Commission for the purposes of authorizations, a justifying report on the water needs in the areas and supplies affected by the Tajo-Segura transfer, which will refer, for irrigated areas, to planned crops and , for supplies, to the estimated demands, as well as to the existing regulation possibilities for such flows. This report will be prepared by the General Directorate of Water based on the hydrological planning information, and must be updated every six months, in accordance with the provisions of the Hydrological Planning Regulations, on the monitoring of hydrological plans. The unconstitutionality and nullity are declared, deferred for a period of one year as established in Legal Basis 5, by Sentence TC 13/2015, of February 5. Ref. BOE-A-2015-2259. Page 58 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Sixteenth additional provision. Evaluations in execution of final judgment. 1. When, as a result of a final judgment, the evaluation of the possible significant effects on the environment of a partially or fully carried out project must be carried out, said evaluation will be carried out through the procedures provided for in title II, with the specifications set forth in this provision. 2. The evaluation will be based on the principles mentioned in article 2, substituting when appropriate, the preventive and precautionary action for the compensation and reversal of impacts caused, and will be carried out through the prospective or retrospective analyzes that proceed, taking into account existing physical reality. 3. The environmental document and the environmental impact study will have the content established in the law, and must additionally: a) Differentiate, in the general description of the project, the part of it already carried out and the part not carried out. In addition, in the analysis of the various alternatives, in any case, the restoration to its original state of the altered situation will be examined. b) Differentiate, in the characterization and assessment of the effects of the project on the factors that make up the environment, those corresponding to the part carried out, through a retrospective analysis, and those of the part not yet carried out, through a prospective analysis equivalent to of an environmental impact assessment. c) Include environmental protection measures that allow correcting, compensating or reversing impacts caused by the elements of the project already carried out, including the elimination of elements of the project that cause severe and critical impacts; and prevent, correct, and compensate for anticipated impacts for project elements not yet completed. d) Differentiate, in the environmental surveillance program, the measures corresponding to the elements of the project carried out from those not carried out. 4. The technical analysis of the file will be carried out taking into account the following: a) Regarding the part of the project that has not been carried out, a prospective evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the principles of environmental impact assessment, in order to prevent, mitigate or compensate for the anticipated significant adverse impacts. b) Regarding the part of the project that has already been carried out, the adequacy of the measures provided for: 1st Compensate for the significant impacts that have been caused to date on the elements of the environment that have received such impacts. 2.º Correct in the future when this is possible, and compensate when the above is impossible or, even when possible, a residual impact is foreseen, the significant impacts caused by elements already executed in the project that are not critical. 3rd Substitute the elements of the project that cause severe or critical impacts for new alternative elements that do not cause them, determining in these cases the replacement to its original state of the altered situation. 5. The impact statement or the environmental impact report will include the contents provided for in the law, and will conclude by differentiating the impacts associated with the part of the project carried out and not carried out. Where appropriate, it will define the corrective, compensatory or reversal measures for the impacts associated with the part of the project carried out, together with its corresponding environmental monitoring program. Seventeenth additional provision. Military installations. Any environmental or other administrative action of the autonomous communities or local entities arising from this law that affects areas declared of interest to National Defense and land, buildings and facilities, including their protection zones, subject to the National Defence, you will need the mandatory report from the Ministry of Defence, which will be binding as far as National Defense is concerned. Page 59 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Eighteenth additional provision. Nuclear and radioactive facilities. In accordance with the provisions of Law 15/1980, of April 22, on the creation of the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), in the case of projects that must be authorized according to the Regulation on Nuclear and Radioactive Facilities, approved by the Royal Decree 1836/1999, of December 3, the Nuclear Safety Council will be the body in charge of carrying out the evaluation of the environmental radiological impact and the environmental radiological surveillance program, as well as the supervision of the latter, applying the current regulations on nuclear safety and radiation protection. In the ordinary environmental impact assessment of projects that must be authorized by the General State Administration and that are also subject to the Regulation on Nuclear and Radioactive Facilities, approved by Royal Decree 1836/1999, of December 3, the substantive body will carry out the public information referred to in article 36, including a summary of the fundamental characteristics of the project, the environmental impact statement will be formulated once the Nuclear Safety Council reports on the data provided by the promoter, in accordance with the Annex VI, having to arbitrate for this the opportune coordination between the Ministry responsible for the environment and the Nuclear Safety Council within the respect of their respective powers. In the simplified environmental impact assessment of projects that must be authorized by the General State Administration and that are also subject to the Regulation on Nuclear and Radioactive Facilities, approved by Royal Decree 1836/1999, of December 3, the report to assess the radiological impact in normal operation and in the event of an accident, will be carried out in accordance with the regulations applicable to this type of facility and with which it additionally establishes, after consulting the Council of State, in the cases provided for in the applicable regulations, the Council of Nuclear Safety, provided that it covers the regulation of the procedures to ensure the integral environmental evaluation of all the factors mentioned in article 5.1 a). The environmental impact statement and the environmental report will be formulated in accordance with the environmental radiological impact assessment that corresponds to the Nuclear Safety Council in accordance with its specific regulations. Nineteenth additional provision. Prioritization of files for electricity generation projects from renewable sources. In the processing of environmental assessment procedures for electricity generation projects from renewable sources, priority will be given to the dispatch of files corresponding to projects located in areas of low and moderate sensitivity, according to the "Environmental zoning for the implementation of renewable energies". renewables”, prepared by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. First transitional provision. Transitional regime. 1. This law applies to all plans, programs, and projects whose strategic environmental assessment or environmental impact assessment begins on the date of entry into force of this law. 2. The regulation of the validity of environmental impact statements applies to all those that are published after the entry into force of this law. 3. The environmental impact statements published prior to the entry into force of this Law will lose their validity and will cease to produce their own effects if the execution of the projects or activities had not begun within the maximum term of six years from the entry into force of this Law. In such cases, the promoter must start the environmental impact assessment process of the project again in accordance with the provisions of this Law. 4. The regulation of the modification of the strategic environmental declarations and of the conditions of the environmental impact declarations applies to all those formulated before the entry into force of this law. Page 60 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Second transitory provision. Transitory regime of the modification of Law 10/2001, of July 5, of the National Hydrological Plan. The application of the third additional provision of Law 10/2001, of July 5, regulating the National Hydrological Plan, will be staggered over time in accordance with the following prescriptions: 1. The implementation of the new reference level of 400 cubic hectometres for the definition of transferable surpluses at the headwaters of the Tagus will follow a transitory regime so that this new level is reached in a maximum of five years according to the following procedure. 2. On the date of entry into force of the new hydrological plan for the Tagus, drawn up in accordance with the Water Framework Directive, the level will rise by 32 cubic hectometres, and will rise in additional steps of 32 cubic hectometres on January 1, each successive year, until reaching the final 400 cubic hectometres. Likewise, the curve for defining exceptional hydrological situations in force will be gradually and simultaneously raised to their corresponding reference levels, until the final curve is reached. 3. If, at the beginning or at any time during the transition period, a level of impounded stocks of 900 cubic hectometres is reached, both the new reference level of 400 cubic hectometres and the exceptional conditions curve will come into force immediately. 4. The Central Commission for the Exploitation of the Tajo-Segura Aqueduct will ensure the application of these criteria and resolve incidents that may arise in the transition period. The unconstitutionality and nullity are declared, deferred for a period of one year as established in Legal Basis 5, by Sentence TC 13/2015, of February 5. Ref. BOE-A-2015-2259. Unique derogatory provision. Regulatory repeal. 1. All provisions of equal or lower rank that oppose this law and, in particular, the following: a) Law 9/2006, of April 28, on the evaluation of the effects of certain plans and programs on the environment. b) The revised text of the Environmental Impact Assessment Law for projects, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2008, of January 11. c) Royal Decree 1131/1988, of September 30, which approves the Regulations for the execution of Royal Legislative Decree 1302/1986, of June 28, on Environmental Impact Assessment. 2. The repeal of the regulations set forth in the previous section, as basic regulations and with respect to the Autonomous Communities, will take place, in any case, within a period of one year from the entry into force of this law. However, if before the end of this period, the Autonomous Communities approve new regulatory texts adapted to this law, the repeal provided for in the previous section will occur at the time the new regional regulations come into force. 3. The first additional provision of Law 11/2005, of June 22, is hereby repealed. which modifies Law 10/2001, of July 5, 2001, of the National Hydrological Plan. The unconstitutionality and nullity of section 3 is declared, deferred for a period of one year as established in Legal Basis 5, by Sentence TC 13/2015, of February 5. Ref. BOE A-2015-2259. Page 61 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION First final provision. Modification of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. One. Letter a) of section 1 of article 76 is amended as follows: «a) The use of chemical products or biological substances, discharges, both liquid and solid, waste spillage, as well as the deposit of solid elements for landfills, which alter or pose a risk of altering the conditions of ecosystems with damage to the values contained therein.” Two. Two new letters s) and t) are added in section 1 of article 76 with the following wording: «s) Failure to comply with the obligations and prohibitions established in the regulatory standards and in the management instruments, including the plans, of the protected natural spaces and protected spaces Red Natura 2000.» «t) The supply or storage of fuel through the permanent anchoring of tankers in the waters included within the protected natural areas and the Natura 2000 Network protected areas, the reception of said fuel as well as the fuel supply to the aforementioned tankers. It will be considered that the anchoring is permanent even if there are possible periods of absence of the ship or it is substituted or replaced by another of the same company, owner or group, provided that the purpose of the anchoring is storage for the supply of fuel.» Three. Section 2 of article 76 is modified, which is worded as follows: "two. The offenses listed in the previous section will be graded as follows: a) As very serious, those included in sections a), b), c), d), e), f), s) and t) if the damage exceeds 100,000 euros; any of the others, if the damage exceeds 200,000 euros; and recidivism when a serious infraction of the same type as the one that gave rise to a previous sanction is committed within a period of two years following notification of the sanction, provided that the sanctioning resolution has become firm in administrative proceedings. b) As serious, those included in sections a), b), c), d), e), f), g), h), i), j), k), l), m), n ), s) and t) when they are not considered very serious; and recidivism when a minor infraction of the same type as the one that motivated a previous sanction is committed within the period of two years following its notification, provided that the sanctioning resolution has become final through administrative channels. c) As minor, those collected in sections o), p), q) and r).» Four. Sections 2 and 6 of article 77 are modified, being worded in the following terms: "two. In the imposition of sanctions, the due adequacy between the seriousness of the fact constituting the infraction and the applied sanction must be kept, taking into account the following criteria: the magnitude of the risk that the offending behavior supposes and its repercussion; the amount, if any, of the damage caused; its significance with regard to the safety of persons or property protected by this Law; the circumstances of the person responsible; the degree of intentionality appreciable in the offender or offenders; and, where appropriate, the illicitly obtained benefit as a result of the infringing conduct, as well as the irreversibility of the damage or deterioration produced.» «6. Within the scope of the General State Administration, the amount of each of these coercive fines shall not exceed 3,000 euros.» Five. Section 4 of article 77 is deleted. Six. A new article 80 is added, with the following wording: Page 62 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION "The natural or legal persons, public or private, who are responsible for the actions or omissions constituting the administrative offenses typified in this law, including, where appropriate, the promoters of the infringing activity, the businessmen who execute it, will be penalized. , the technical directors of the same, as well as any other subject that intervenes, by action or omission, or whose participation is essential for the commission of the infraction.» Second final provision. Modification of Law 52/1980, of October 16, on the economic regime of the exploitation of the Tajo-Segura aqueduct. The last paragraph of the first additional provision is modified, which now has the following wording: «On the contrary, if there are fewer losses, the additional resources generated will be distributed 70% for irrigation, in proportion to the aforementioned irrigable areas, while the remaining 30% will be assigned for supplies to the province of Almería. » The unconstitutionality and nullity are declared, deferred for a period of one year as established in Legal Basis 5, by Sentence TC 13/2015, of February 5. Ref. BOE-A-2015-2259. Third final provision. Modification of Law 10/2001, of July 5, of the National Hydrological Plan:. One. The third additional provision is amended, which now reads as follows: «Regarding the transfers of water approved from the headwaters of the Tagus, all those reservoirs in the Entrepeñas-Buendía complex that exceed 400 hm3 will be considered surplus water . Below this figure, transfers cannot be made in any case. This minimum volume may be revised in the future in accordance with the effective variations experienced by the demands of the Tagus basin, in accordance with the principles of efficiency and sustainability, in such a way that its preferential nature is guaranteed in all cases, and it is ensured that the transfers from headwaters can never pose a limit or impediment to the natural development of said basin.» Two. A new fifteenth additional provision is introduced, with the following wording: «Fifteenth additional provision. The works foreseen in the Annex to the National Hydrological Plan that have not yet been executed and that allow Castilla-La Mancha to use the infrastructure of the Tajo-Segura transfer, will be carried out as a matter of urgency, and in accordance with feasibility criteria. as well as the corresponding resources that have been assigned and reserved.» The unconstitutionality and nullity are declared, deferred for a period of one year as established in Legal Basis 5, by Sentence TC 13/2015, of February 5. Ref. BOE-A-2015-2259. Page 63 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Fourth final provision. Modification of Royal Legislative Decree 1/2001, of July 20, which approves the Consolidated Text of the Water Law. Article 72 is amended to read as follows: «Article 72. Inter-basin connection infrastructures. 1. The General Directorate of Water may authorize the transfer of rights, referred to in this section, which implies the use of infrastructures that interconnect territories of different River Basin Management Plans, this authorization entails the use of interconnection infrastructures. Assignment requests will be understood to have been rejected once the established deadlines have elapsed without having notified the administrative resolution. 2. Without prejudice to the provisions of article 69.3, the economic and financial regime applicable to these transactions will be that established in the singular regulations that regulate the regime of exploitation of the corresponding infrastructures. 3. The authorization of assignments regulated by this article may not alter what is established in the rules of exploitation of each of the transfers.» Fifth final provision. Modification of Law 11/2005, of June 22, by which Law 10/2001, of July 5, of the National Hydrological Plan is modified. Section 1 of the sixth additional provision is modified and now has the following wording: "1. In application of the principle of transparency, and for complete public information and legal certainty for all those affected, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment will publish and update the information related to ordinary transfers between different river basin districts in the following terms: In the receiving demarcation, reference values will be established for the monthly consumption of transferred water by uses and irrigation areas. The supplies to these demands will not exceed the fixed reference values, admitting occasional deviations with respect to these values provided that the interannual average of deviations does not exceed the indicated annual total. With respect to the principle of preference of the transferor basin and the determinations of the hydrological planning, monthly reference values of the discharges in the transferor demarcation will be established to satisfy its own requirements. The monthly discharges will not exceed the established reference values, admitting occasional deviations with respect to these values provided that the interannual average of deviations does not exceed the indicated annual total. Following a report from the General Directorate of Water, and within a maximum period of 3 months, a royal decree will define the monthly values of the reference consumption of water transferred by uses and irrigation areas in the demarcation of destination and their admissible percentages of maximum occasional deviation, as well as the monthly values of reference discharges in the demarcation of origin, their admissible percentages of maximum occasional deviation, and any specific circumstances that must be considered for its complete definition. For this, the available hydrological information will be considered and the determinations of the hydrological planning of the different demarcations will be respected. The General Directorate of Water will supervise both the monthly supplies to the uses and irrigation areas of the transfer as well as the reference discharges, being able to request the verifications and justifications that it deems appropriate, as well as order the execution of the technical means that are required to it. By royal decree, the periodicity of data updating and its time interval, the presentation formats, the minimum scope of historical values, and the statistical data that will have to be incorporated will be determined.» Page 64 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Sixth final provision. Incorporation of European Union Law. By means of this law, Directive 2001/42/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council, of June 27, regarding the evaluation of the effects of certain plans and programs on the environment, and Directive 2011/ 92/UE of the European Parliament and of the Council, of December 13, relative to the evaluation of the repercussions of certain public and private projects on the environment. Seventh final provision. Relations of the environmental evaluation with the sectorial legislation. 1. Within one year, the sectoral rules governing the processing and adoption or approval of plans and programs will contain the necessary provisions to ensure that those included in the scope of application of this law are subject to an environmental assessment. strategy before its adoption or approval. 2. The sector regulations governing the processing and adoption or approval of plans, programs and projects must establish deadlines for the actions that this law attributes to the substantive body or the promoter. This regulatory adaptation must be carried out within a year from the entry into force of this law. Eighth final provision. Competence titles. 1. This law, including its annexes, is issued under article 149.1.23.ª of the Constitution, which attributes to the State exclusive jurisdiction over basic legislation for the protection of the environment, without prejudice to the powers of the autonomous communities to establish additional protection standards. 2. They are not basic in nature and therefore will only apply to the General State Administration and its public bodies: a) The following precepts: article 3, section 1, fourth paragraph; Article 8, paragraphs 3 and 4; article 11, paragraph 1; Article 18, paragraph 4, the last two paragraphs; Article 19, first paragraph, second paragraph, last sentence; Article 23, second paragraph; Article 27, paragraph 2 and paragraph 3, last sentence; Article 28, paragraph 4, second paragraph, last sentence; Article 29, paragraph 4, the last two paragraphs; Article 30, paragraph 2, first paragraph, last sentence; Article 34, paragraph 4, second paragraph, last sentence; article 39 paragraph 4, the last two paragraphs; Article 43, paragraph 2 and paragraph 3, last sentence; Article 44, paragraph 5, second paragraph, last sentence; Article 45, paragraph 4, the last two paragraphs; Article 46, paragraph 2, second paragraph, last sentence; title III, chapter III; the sixth additional provision, first paragraph; the seventh additional provision, sections 2 and 3 and the ninth additional provision. b) The terms established in articles 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 and in the tenth additional provision. 3. Without prejudice to what is established in the previous sections, they are issued under the protection of article 149.1.18.ª of the Constitution, which regulates the bases of the legal regime of the Public Administrations and the common administrative procedure, without prejudice to the specialties derived of the own organization of the autonomous communities: article 9, section 3; Article 12, paragraphs 2, 3 and paragraph 4, first sentence; article 19, section 1, third paragraph; article 21, section 4, third paragraph; article 22, section 1, third paragraph; Article 24, paragraph 4, last sentence; article 24, section 5, second paragraph; Article 27, paragraph 4, second sentence; Article 28, paragraph 4, first paragraph, last sentence and the third paragraph; article 30, section 2, second paragraph; article 34, section 4, third paragraph; article 36, paragraph 3; article 37, section 3, second paragraph; Article 40, paragraph 2, third and fourth paragraphs, paragraph 3, second paragraph, paragraph 4 and paragraph 5, second paragraph; article 43 paragraph 3, second sentence; Article 44, paragraph 5, third paragraph and Article 46, paragraph 3, first paragraph. 4. The eighth additional provision is issued under cover of the provisions of article 149.1.6.ª of the Constitution, which attributes to the State exclusive jurisdiction over the Page 65 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION mercantile legislation and under the protection of article 149.1.23.ª, which attribute to the State the exclusive competence to dictate the basic legislation in matters of environmental protection. The second paragraph of section 3 of the eighth additional provision is based on the competence that article 149.1.8.ª of the Constitution grants to the State in terms of organization of public records and instruments. 5. The fifteenth additional provision, the second, third, fourth and fifth final provisions, and the second transitory provision are issued under the provisions of article 149.1.22 of the Constitution, which attributes to the State exclusive jurisdiction over legislation, management and concession of hydraulic resources and uses when the waters flow through more than one Autonomous Community, and the authorization of electrical installations when their use affects another Community or the transport of energy leaves its territorial scope. 6. The sixteenth additional provision is issued under the provisions of article 149.1.6.ª of the Constitution, which attributes exclusive jurisdiction over procedural legislation to the State and under article 149.1.23.ª, which attributes to the State State the exclusive competence to enact basic legislation on environmental protection. Ninth final provision. Development Authorization. 1. Within the scope of the State's powers and for the strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment procedures in which the General State Administration is competent, the Government will dictate as many provisions as are necessary for the execution and development of what is established in this law. 2. Likewise, the Government is authorized to modify the annexes in order to adapt them to current regulations, to scientific and technical developments, and to the provisions of international standards and European Union Law. 3. The Government is also authorized to update Annex VI, in those aspects of a technical nature or of a circumstantial and changing nature, in order to adapt it to technical, scientific and economic progress. Final provision ten. Entry into force. This law will enter into force on the day following its publication in the "Official State Gazette". Final provision eleven. Entry into force in relation to regional development regulations. (deleted) So, I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to uphold and enforce this law. Madrid, December 9, 2013. JUAN CARLOS R. The president of the Government, MARIANO RAJOY BREY ANNEX I Projects subject to ordinary environmental assessment regulated in title II, chapter II, section 1. Group 1. Livestock. a) Facilities for raising animals on livestock farms regulated by Royal Decree 348/2000, of March 10, which incorporates the Page 66 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Directive 98/58/CE, relative to the protection of animals in livestock farms and that exceed the following capacities: 1st 40,000 places for chickens. 2nd 55,000 places for chickens. 3rd 2,000 places for fattening pigs. 4th 750 places for breeding sows. Group 2. Extractive industry. a) Exploitations and fronts of the same authorization or open-pit concession of mineral deposits and other geological resources of sections A, B, C and D whose use is regulated by Law 22/1973, of July 21, on Mines and complementary regulations, when any of the following circumstances occur: 1. Farms in which the area of affected land exceeds 25 ha. 2. Exploitations that have a total movement of land of more than 200,000 cubic meters per year. 3. Exploitations that are carried out below the water table, taking as the reference level the highest among the annual oscillations, or that may lead to a decrease in the recharge of superficial or deep aquifers. 4. Exploitation of deposits linked to current dynamics: fluvial, fluvio-glacial, coastal or wind. Those other deposits and peat bogs that, due to their fossil flora content, may be of scientific interest for palynological and paleoclimatic reconstruction. Peat extraction, when the surface of the extraction land exceeds 150 ha. 5. Exploitations visible from highways, motorways, national and regional roads, protected natural spaces, urban centers with more than 1,000 inhabitants or located at distances less than 2 km from such centers. 6. Exploitation of substances that may undergo alterations due to oxidation, hydration, etc., and that induce, in limits higher than those included in current legislation, acidity, toxicity or other parameters in concentrations such that they pose a risk to human health or the environment, such as sulfide ores, solid fuel mines, mines requiring in situ leaching treatment, and radioactive minerals. 7. Extractions that, although not fulfilling any of the above conditions, are located less than 5 km from the limits of the area that is expected to be affected by tillage and the annexed facilities of any existing open-pit mining operation or concession. b) Underground mining in exploitations in which any of the following circumstances occurs: 1st That its paragenesis may, by oxidation, hydration or dissolution, produce acidic or alkaline waters that give rise to changes in pH or release metallic or non-metallic ions that imply an alteration of the natural environment. 2. That they exploit radioactive minerals. 3rd Those whose mines are less than 1 km (measured in plan) from distance from urban centers, which may induce risks due to subsidence. c) Extraction or underground storage of oil and natural gas for business when: 1. The amount of production exceeds 500 tons per day in the case of oil and 500,000 cubic meters per day in the case of gas or, 2nd They are carried out in the marine environment. d) Projects consisting of drilling for the exploration, investigation or exploitation of hydrocarbons, CO2 storage, gas storage and medium and high enthalpy geothermal energy, which require the use of hydraulic fracturing techniques. This section does not include the perforations of investigation wells whose purpose is to take witnesses prior to drilling projects that require the use of hydraulic invoicing techniques. Page 67 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION All the sections of this group include the necessary facilities and structures for the extraction, treatment, storage, use and transport of the ore, waste stockpiles, rafts, as well as power lines, water supplies and their purification and access roads. new. Group 3. Energy industry. a) Crude oil refineries (excluding companies that only produce lubricants from crude oil), as well as gasification and liquefaction facilities for at least 500 tons of coal or bituminous shale per day. b) Thermal power plants and other combustion facilities with a thermal power of at least 300 MW. c) Nuclear power plants and other nuclear reactors, including the dismantling or definitive closure of such plants and reactors (excluding research facilities for the production and transformation of fissile and fertile materials), whose maximum power does not exceed 1 kW of thermal load keep going. d) Installation of reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuels. e) Facilities designed to: 1. The production or enrichment of nuclear fuel. 2. The process of reusing irradiated nuclear fuel or highly radioactive waste. 3rd The final deposit of spent nuclear fuel. 4th Exclusively the final deposit of radioactive waste. 5th Exclusively the storage (projected for a period of more than ten years) of irradiated nuclear fuel or radioactive waste in a place other than production. f) Pipelines with a diameter of more than 800 mm and a length of more than 40 km for the transport of: 1st gas, oil or chemical products, including compression installations, 2nd fluxes of carbon dioxide for geological storage purposes, including associated pumping stations. g) Construction of electric power transmission lines with a voltage equal to or greater than 220 kV and a length greater than 15 km, unless they run entirely underground through urbanized land, as well as their associated substations. h) Facilities for the storage of oil or petrochemical or chemical products with a capacity of at least 200,000 t. i) Installations for the use of wind power for energy production (wind farms) that have 50 or more wind turbines, or that have more than 30 MW or that are less than 2 km from another wind farm in operation, under construction, with administrative authorization or with an environmental impact statement. j) Installations for the production of electrical energy from solar energy intended for sale to the grid, which are not located on roofs or roofs of existing buildings and which occupy more than 100 ha of surface area. Group 4. Steel and mineral industry. production and elaboration of metals. a) Installations for the production of raw non-ferrous metals from minerals, concentrates or secondary raw materials through metallurgical, chemical or electrolytic processes. b) Integrated plants for the initial casting of cast iron and steel. c) Facilities for the production of ferrous metals in which any of the following activities are carried out: 1st Hot rolled with a capacity of more than 20 t of raw steel per hour. 2nd Forged with hammers whose impact energy is greater than 50 kJ per hammer and when the thermal power used is greater than 20 MW. 3rd Application of protective layers of molten metal with a treatment capacity of more than 2 t of crude steel per hour. Page 68 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION d) Ferrous metal foundries with a production capacity of more than 20 tons per day. e) Installations for the smelting (including alloying) of non-ferrous metals, with the exception of precious metals, including recovered products (refined, foundry remains, etc.), with a melting capacity of more than 4 t for the lead and cadmium or 20 t for all other metals, per day. f) Installations for the treatment of the surface of metals and plastic materials by electrolytic or chemical process, when the volume of the tanks or of the complete lines used for the treatment is greater than 30 cubic meters. g) Installations for the calcination and sintering of metallic minerals, with a capacity greater than 5,000 t per year of processed ore. h) Production of cement, lime and magnesium oxide: 1st Manufacture of cement by grinding with a production capacity of more than 500 t per day. 2nd Manufacture of clinker in rotary kilns with a production capacity of more than 500 t per day, or in other type of kilns with a production capacity of more than 50 t per day. 3rd Lime production in kilns with a production capacity of more than 50 t per day. 4th Production of magnesium oxide in furnaces with a production capacity more than 50 t per day. i) Installations for the manufacture of glass, including fiberglass, with a capacity of melting greater than 20 t per day. j) Installations for the smelting of mineral substances, including the production of mineral fibres, with a smelting capacity greater than 20 t per day. k) Installations for the manufacture of ceramic products by firing, in particular roof tiles, bricks, refractory bricks, tiles, stoneware or porcelain, with a production capacity of more than 75 tons per day and a firing capacity of more than 4 cubic meters and more than 300 kg per cubic meter of charge density per furnace. Group 5. Chemical, petrochemical, textile and paper industries. a) Installations for the industrial scale production of substances by means of chemical or biological transformation of the following products or groups of products: 1st Organic chemical products: i) Simple hydrocarbons (linear or cyclic, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic or aromatic). ii) Oxygenated hydrocarbons, such as alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, acids organic, esters and mixtures of esters, acetates, ethers, peroxides, epoxy resins. iii) Sulphurous hydrocarbons. iv) Nitrogenous hydrocarbons, in particular, amines, amides, nitrous compounds, nitric compounds or nitrates, nitriles, cyanates and isocyanates. v) Phosphorus hydrocarbons. vi) Halogenated hydrocarbons. vii) Organic metallic compounds. viii) Plastic materials (polymers, synthetic fibers, cellulose-based fibers). ix) Synthetic rubbers. x) Dyes and pigments. xi) Surfactants and surface active agents. 2nd inorganic chemical products: i) Gases and, in particular, ammonia, chlorine or hydrogen chloride, fluorine or hydrogen fluoride, carbon oxides, sulfur compounds, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen, sulfur dioxide, carbonyl dichloride. ii) Acids and, in particular, chromic acid, hydrofluoric acid, phosphoric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, fuming sulfuric acid, sulfur acids. Page 69 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION iii) Bases and, in particular, ammonium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide. iv) Salts such as ammonium chloride, potassium chlorate, potassium carbonate (potash), sodium carbonate (soda), perborates, silver nitrate. v) Non-metals, metal oxides or other inorganic compounds such as calcium carbide, silicon, silicon carbide. 3. Fertilizers based on phosphorus, nitrogen or potassium (simple or compound fertilizers). 4th Phytosanitary products and biocides. 5th Pharmaceutical products through a chemical or biological process. 6th explosive products. b) Plants for pre-treatment (operations such as washing, bleaching, mercerization) or for dyeing fibers or textile products when the treatment capacity exceeds 10 t per day. c) Plants for tanning hides and skins when the treatment capacity exceed 12 t of finished products per day. d) Industrial plants for: 1. The production of paper pulp from wood or other similar fibrous materials. 2nd The production of paper and cardboard, with a production capacity of more than 200 tons per day. e) Pulp production and treatment facilities with a production capacity of more than 20 t per day. Group 6. Infrastructure projects. a) Roads: 1st Construction of highways and dual carriageways. 2nd Construction of a new highway of four lanes or more, or realignment and/or widening of an existing highway of two lanes or less in order to achieve four lanes or more, when such new highway or the section of highway realigned and/or or widened reach or exceeds 10 km in a continuous length. b) Railways: 1st Construction of railway lines for long-distance traffic. 2nd Extension of the number of tracks of an existing railway line in a length continued for more than 10 km. c) Construction of aerodromes classified as airports, according to the definition of article 39 of Law 48/1960, of July 21, on Air Navigation with take-off and landing runways equal to or greater than 2,100 meters in length. d) Construction of commercial, fishing or sports ports that admit ships with a tonnage greater than 1,350 t. e) Docks for loading and unloading connected to land and exterior ports (excluding docks for ferries) that admit ships with a tonnage greater than 1,350 t, except those located in zone I, in accordance with the Delimitation of Spaces and Uses Ports regulated in article 69 letter a) of the Consolidated Text of the Law on State Ports and the Merchant Navy, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2011, of September 5. f) Construction of waterways, regulated in Decision No. 661/2010/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of July 7, 2010, on the Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network; and inland navigation ports that allow the passage of ships with a tonnage greater than 1,350 t. Group 7. Hydraulic engineering and water management projects. Page 70 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION a) Dams and other installations intended to retain water or store it permanently when the new or additional volume of stored water exceeds 10 cubic hectometres. b) Projects for the extraction of groundwater or the artificial recharge of aquifers, if the annual volume of water extracted or contributed is equal to or greater than 10 cubic hectometres. c) Projects for the transfer of water resources between river basins, excluding those transfers of water for human consumption by pipeline, in any of the following cases: 1. The purpose of the transfer is to avoid possible water shortages and the volume of water transferred is greater than 100 cubic hectometres per year. 2.º That the average multiannual flow of the extraction basin exceeds 2,000 cubic hectometers per year and the volume of water transferred exceeds 5% of said flow. d) Wastewater treatment plants with a capacity greater than 150,000 inhabitants-equivalent. Group 8. Waste treatment and management projects. a) Facilities for the incineration of hazardous waste defined in article 3.e) of Law 22/2011, of July 28, on waste and contaminated soil, as well as those for the disposal of said waste by landfill deposit, security deposit or chemical treatment (as defined in section D9 of Annex I of Law 22/2011). b) Installations for the incineration of non-hazardous waste or for the disposal of said waste by means of physical-chemical treatment (as defined in epigraph D9 of annex I of Law 22/2011), with a capacity of more than 100 t per day. c) Non-hazardous waste landfills that receive more than 10 t per day or that have a total capacity of more than 25,000 t, excluding inert waste dumps. Group 9. Other projects. a) The following projects when they are developed in Protected Natural Areas, Natura 2000 Network and Areas protected by international instruments, according to the regulation of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity: 1. Non-hazardous waste landfill facilities not included in group 8 of this annex I, as well as inert waste or extraction materials of river, land or marine origin that occupy more than 1 ha of surface. 2nd Projects to allocate uncultivated areas or semi-natural areas to agricultural exploitation or timber forestry exploitation that imply the occupation of an area greater than 10 ha. 3rd Projects for transformation into irrigation or land drainage, when affect an area greater than 10 ha. 4th River dredging when the volume extracted exceeds 20,000 cubic meters per year, and marine dredging when the volume extracted exceeds 20,000 cubic meters per year. 5th Pipes for the transport of chemical products and for the transport of gas and oil, with a diameter of more than 800 mm and a length of more than 10 km in the spaces referred to in section a) and pipes for the transport of carbon dioxide streams for geological storage purposes, including associated pumping stations. 6. Lines for the transmission of electrical energy whose layout affects the natural spaces considered in this article with a length greater than 3 km, excluding those that cross urbanized areas. 7th Wind farms that have more than 10 wind turbines or 6 MW of power. 8. Installations for the production of hydroelectric energy. 9th Construction of airports, according to the definition of article 39 of Law 48/1960, of July 21, on Air Navigation with take-off and landing runways less than 2,100 meters long. 10th Projects that require the urbanization of the land for industrial estates or residential uses that occupy more than 5 ha; Construction of shopping centers and Page 71 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION car parks, outside urbanizable land and that occupy more than 1 ha on the surface; Hotel facilities on undeveloped land. 11th Ski slopes, lifts and cable cars and associated constructions. 12th Theme parks. 13.º Long-distance water conduction installations with a diameter of more than 800 mm and a length greater than 10 km. 14th Land concentrations that entail a change in land use when involves a substantial alteration of the vegetation cover. 15th Exploitations and fronts of the same authorization or open-pit concession of mineral deposits and other geological resources of sections A, B, C and D whose use is regulated by Law 22/1973, of July 21, on Mines and complementary regulations. 16.º Construction of new highways, dual carriageways and conventional roads. 17th Extraction or underground storage of oil and natural gas. 18th Installations for the production of electrical energy from solar energy intended for sale to the network, which are not located on roofs or roofs of existing buildings and which occupy an area of more than 10 ha. b) Any project that involves a change in land use on an area equal to or greater than 100 ha. c) Storage sites in accordance with Law 40/2010, of December 29, on geological storage of carbon dioxide. d) Facilities for the capture of CO2 flows for geological storage purposes in accordance with Law 40/2010, of December 29, on the geological storage of carbon dioxide, from facilities included in this annex, or when the total capture annual CO2 is equal to or greater than 1.5 Mt. ANNEX II Projects subject to simplified environmental assessment regulated in title II, chapter II, section 2. Group 1. Agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and livestock. a) Land consolidation projects that are not included in Annex I when affect an area greater than 100 ha. b) Afforestation according to the definition of article 6.g) of Law 43/2003, of November 21, on Forests, that affect an area greater than 50 ha and felling of forest masses with the purpose of changing to another type of land use. c) Water resource management projects for agriculture: 1st Consolidation and improvement projects for irrigation in an area of more than 100 ha (projects not included in Annex I). 2nd transformation projects to irrigation or land drainage, when they affect an area greater than 10 ha. d) Projects to allocate natural, semi-natural or uncultivated areas to exploitation agricultural that are not included in annex I, whose surface is greater than 10 ha. e) Installations for intensive aquaculture that have a production capacity of more than 500 t per year. f) Facilities for the breeding of animals in livestock farms regulated by Royal Decree 348/2000, of March 10, which incorporates Directive 98/58/CE, relative to the protection of animals in the legal system. livestock farms and that exceed the following capacities: 1st 2,000 places for sheep and goats. 2nd 300 places for dairy cattle. 3rd 600 places for fattening beef. 4th 20,000 places for rabbits. Group 2. Food product industries. Page 72 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION a) Industrial facilities for the production of vegetable and animal fats and oils, provided that the following circumstances occur simultaneously in the facility: 1.º That it is located outside industrial estates. 2. That it is less than 500 meters from a residential area. 3.º That it occupies an area of at least 1 ha. b) Industrial installations for the packaging and canning of animal and vegetable products when the raw material is animal, except milk, and have a production capacity of more than 75 t per day of finished products (quarterly average values), and installations when the raw material vegetable raw material has a production capacity of more than 300 t per day of finished products (quarterly average values); Either it uses both animal and vegetable raw material and has a production capacity of more than 75 t per day of finished products (quarterly average values). c) Industrial facilities for the manufacture of dairy products, provided that the installation receives a quantity of milk greater than 200 t per day (annual average value). d) Industrial facilities for the manufacture of beer and malt, provided that in the installation if the following circumstances occur simultaneously: 1.º That it is located outside industrial estates. 2.º That it is less than 500 meters from a residential area. 3rd that occupies an area of at least 1 ha. e) Industrial installations for the production of jams and syrups, provided that the following circumstances occur simultaneously in the installation: 1. That it is located outside industrial estates. 2. That it is less than 500 meters from a residential area. 3.º That it occupies an area of at least 1 ha. f) Facilities for the slaughter, butchering or quartering of animals with a channel production capacity greater than 50 t per day. g) Industrial facilities for the manufacture of starches, provided they are produced in a simultaneously the following circumstances: 1.º That it is located outside industrial estates. 2. That it is less than 500 meters from a residential area. 3.º That it occupies an area of at least 1 ha. h) Industrial installations for the manufacture of fishmeal and fish oil, provided that the following circumstances occur simultaneously in the installation: 1. That it is located outside industrial estates. 2. That it is less than 500 meters from a residential area. 3rd that occupies an area of at least 1 ha. i) Sugar factories with a raw material treatment capacity of more than 300 tons per day. Group 3. Drilling, dredging and other mining and industrial installations. a) Deep drilling, with the exception of drilling to investigate the stability or stratigraphy of soils and subsoil, in particular: 1. Geothermal drilling of more than 500 meters. 2nd Perforations for the storage of nuclear waste. 3rd Perforations of more than 120 meters for the water supply. 4th oil or gas exploration or research drilling. b) Installations outside and inside for the gasification of coal and slate bituminous not included in Annex I. c) Marine seismic exploration. Page 73 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION d) Extraction of materials through marine dredging except when the object of the project is to maintain hydrodynamic or navigability conditions. e) River dredging (not included in annex I) and in estuaries when the volume of the extracted product exceeds 100,000 cubic meters per year. f) Facilities for the capture of CO2 flows for geological storage purposes in accordance with Law 40/2010, of December 29, on geological storage of carbon dioxide, from facilities not included in Annex I. g) Aggregate farms (not included in annex I) that are located in: 1st land in the hydraulic public domain for extractions greater than 20,000 cubic meters per year; either 2nd riverbed police zone and its surface area is greater than 5 ha. h) Open pit mining and peat extraction (projects not included in the annex I). i) Industrial installations abroad for the extraction of coal, oil, gas natural, mineral and bituminous shale (projects not included in Annex I). Group 4. Energy industry. a) Industrial facilities for: 1st the production of electricity, steam and hot water (projects not included in the Annex I) with installed power equal to or greater than 100 MW. b) Construction of lines for the transmission of electrical energy (projects not included in Annex I) with a voltage equal to or greater than 15 kV, which are longer than 3 km, unless they run entirely underground through urbanized land, as well as well as their associated substations. c) Industrial manufacture of hulla and lignite briquettes. d) Installations for the production of hydroelectric energy. e) Installations for the transport of steam and hot water, of oil and gas pipelines, except on urban land, that are longer than 10 km and pipes for the transport of CO2 flows for geological storage purposes (projects not included in annex I). f) Facilities for the processing and storage of radioactive waste (not are included in annex I). g) Installations for the use of the force of the wind for the production of energy. (Wind farms) not included in Annex I, except for those intended for self-consumption that do not exceed 100 kW of total power. h) Installations for the production of energy in the marine environment. i) Installations for the production of electrical energy from solar energy, intended for sale to the network, not included in Annex I or installed on roofs or roofs of buildings or on urban land and that occupy an area greater than 10 he has. j) Storage of natural gas on the ground. Tanks with unit capacity greater than 200 t. k) Underground storage of fuel gases. l) On-site storage of fossil fuels not included in Annex I. m) Facilities for the production of iron or steel ingots (primary or secondary melting), including continuous casting facilities with a capacity of more than 2.5 t per hour. Group 5. Steel and mineral industry. production and elaboration of metals. a) Coke ovens (dry distillation of coal). b) Installations for the manufacture of artificial mineral fibers. c) Shipyards. d) Facilities for the construction and repair of aircraft. (e) Facilities for the manufacture of railway material. f) Facilities for the manufacture and assembly of motor vehicles and the manufacture of vehicle engines. g) Embedding of the bottom by means of explosives or soil expanders. Page 74 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Group 6. Chemical, petrochemical, textile and paper industry. a) Industrial installations for the treatment of intermediate products and the production of chemical products. b) Industrial facilities for the production of pesticides and pharmaceutical products, paints and varnishes, elastomers and peroxides. c) Industrial storage facilities for petroleum, petrochemical and chemical products with a capacity of more than 100 cubic meters (projects not included in Annex I). d) Industrial facilities for the manufacture and treatment of elastomer-based products. e) Industrial installations for the production of paper and cardboard (projects not included in Annex I). Group 7. Infrastructure projects. a) Urbanization projects for industrial estates. b) Projects located outside urbanized areas of urbanizations, including the construction of shopping centers and car parks and that occupy more than 1 ha in surface area. (c) Construction of railroad tracks and intermodal transshipment facilities and of intermodal freight terminals (projects not included in Annex I). d) Construction of aerodromes, according to the definition established in article 39 of Law 48/1960, of July 21, on Air Navigation (not included in annex I) as well as any modification in the facilities or operation of the aerodromes that listed in Annex I or Annex II that may have significant effects on the environment, in accordance with the provisions of Article 7.2.c) of this Law. Aerodromes used exclusively for: 1st sanitary and emergency use, or 2. Fire prevention and extinction, provided that they are not located in Protected Natural Spaces, Natura 2000 Network and Areas protected by international instruments, according to the regulation of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and the Biodiversity. e) Artificial feeding works for beaches whose volume of sand contribution exceeds 500,000 cubic meters or that requires the construction of dikes or breakwaters. f) Trams, aerial and underground subways, suspended lines or similar lines of a of a certain type, used exclusively or mainly for the transport of passengers. g) Construction of inland waterways (not included in Annex I). h) Coastal works intended to combat erosion and maritime works that may alter the coast, for example, by the construction of dikes, jetties, breakwaters and other defense works against the sea, excluding the maintenance and reconstruction of such works and the Works carried out in the port service area. i) Construction of population variants and conventional roads not included in Annex I. j) Modification of the layout of an existing railway in a length of more than 10 km. Group 8. Hydraulic engineering and water management projects. a) Extraction of groundwater or recharge of aquifers (not included in annex I) when the annual volume of water extracted or supplied is greater than 1 cubic hectometer and less than 10 cubic hectometers per year. b) Projects for the transfer of water resources between river basins when the volume of water transferred is greater than 5 cubic hectometres per year and which are not included in Annex I. Projects for the transfer of water for human consumption by pipeline and projects for the direct reuse of treated water. Page 75 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION c) Channeling works and defense projects for channels and banks when the total length of the affected section is greater than 5 km. Those actions that are carried out to avoid risk in urban areas are excepted. d) Wastewater treatment plants with a capacity between 10,000 and 150,000 equivalent- inhabitants. e) Water desalination or desalination installations with a new or additional volume greater than 3,000 cubic meters per day. f) Long-distance water pipe installations with a diameter of more than 800 mm and a length greater than 40 km (projects not included in annex I). g) Dams and other installations designed to retain or store water, provided that one of the following cases occurs: 1. Large dams as defined in the Technical Regulation on the Safety of Dams and Reservoirs, approved by Order of March 12, 1996, when they are not included in Annex I. 2nd Other facilities intended to retain water, not included in the previous section, with storage capacity, new or additional, greater than 200,000 cubic meters. Group 9. Other projects. a) Permanent racing and test tracks for motorized vehicles. b) Waste disposal or recovery facilities not included in Annex I that are not developed inside a warehouse in an industrial estate, or with any capacity if the activity is carried out outside or outside industrial areas. c) Terrestrial installations for the discharge or deposit of materials extracted from fluvial, terrestrial or marine origin not included in annex I with an area greater than 1 ha. d) Storage facilities for scrap metal, storage of discarded vehicles and facilities for scrapping and decontamination of vehicles that are not carried out inside a warehouse in an industrial estate, or with any capacity if the activity is carried out outside or outside industrial zones. e) Facilities intended for the recovery of waste (including storage outside the place of production) that are not developed inside a warehouse in an industrial estate, excluding non- hazardous waste facilities whose treatment capacity does not exceed 5,000 t per year and storage less than 100 t. f) Facilities or test benches for engines, turbines or reactors. g) Installations for the recovery or destruction of explosive substances. h) Ski slopes, lifts, cable cars and associated constructions (projects no included in Annex I). i) Permanent camps for tents or caravans with a minimum capacity of 500 guests. j) Theme parks (projects not included in annex I). k) Projects to reclaim land from the sea, provided they involve an area greater than five hectares. l) Vacation resorts and hotel facilities outside urbanized land and associated constructions. m) Any project involving a change in land use on an area equal to or greater than 50 ha. Group 10. The following projects that are developed in Protected Natural Spaces, Natura 2000 Network and Areas protected by international instruments, according to the regulation of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. a) Wastewater treatment plants when they may involve transformations negative ecological for space. b) Channeling works and defense projects for natural courses when they may entail negative ecological transformations for the space. c) Any project not contemplated in this annex II that supposes a change of land use in an area equal to or greater than 10 ha. Page 76 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION APPENDIX III Criteria mentioned in article 47.2 to determine if a project in annex II must be submitted to ordinary environmental impact assessment 1. Characteristics of the projects: The characteristics of the projects must be considered, in particular, from the point of view of: a) The dimensions and design of the project as a whole. b) Accumulation with other existing and/or approved projects. c) The use of natural resources, particularly land, soil, water and biodiversity. d) The generation of waste. e) Pollution and other disturbances. f) The risks of serious accidents and/or catastrophes relevant to the project in question, including those caused by climate change, in accordance with scientific knowledge. g) Risks to human health (for example due to water contamination, air, or electromagnetic pollution). 2. Location of the projects: The environmental sensitivity of the geographical areas, which may be affected by the projects, must be considered taking into account the principles of sustainability, in particular: a) The present and approved use of the land. b) The relative abundance, availability, quality and regenerative capacity of the natural resources of the area and its subsoil (including soil, land, water and biodiversity). c) The absorption capacity of the natural environment, with special attention to the following areas: 1. Wetlands, riparian zones, river mouths. 2nd Coastal areas and marine environment. 3rd Mountain and forest areas. 4. Natural reserves and parks. 5.º Areas classified or protected by the legislation of the State or of the Communities Autonomous; Red Natura 2000 places. 6th Areas in which the environmental quality objectives established in the applicable legislation, and relevant to the project, have already been exceeded, or in which it is considered that there has been a breach of said environmental quality standards. 7th Areas of great demographic density. 8.o Landscapes and places with historical, cultural and/or archaeological significance. 9th Areas with potential impact on cultural heritage. 10th Surface and underground water masses contemplated in the hydrological planning and their respective environmental objectives. 3. Characteristics of the potential impact: The potential significant effects of the projects on the environment must be considered in relation to the criteria established in sections 1 and 2, and bearing in mind the impact of the project on the factors indicated in article 45, section 1.e), taking into account: a) The magnitude and spatial scope of the impact (for example, geographic area and size of the population that may be affected). b) The nature of the impact. c) The transboundary nature of the impact. d) The intensity and complexity of the impact. e) The probability of impact. f) The expected onset and duration, frequency and reversibility of the impact. g) The accumulation of the impact with the impacts of other existing and/or approved projects. h) The possibility of reducing the impact effectively. Page 77 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION ANNEX IV Content of the strategic environmental study The information that must be contained in the strategic environmental study foreseen in the Article 20 will be, at a minimum, the following: 1. An outline of the content, main objectives of the plan or program and relationships with other relevant plans and programs; 2. The relevant aspects of the current situation of the environment and its probable evolution in case of non-application of the plan or program; 3. The environmental characteristics of the areas that may be significantly affected and their evolution taking into account the expected climate change within the term of the plan or programme; 4. Any existing environmental problem that is relevant to the plan or program, including in particular problems related to any area of special environmental importance, such as areas designated in accordance with the applicable legislation on natural spaces and protected species and protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network; 5. The environmental protection objectives set at the international, community or national levels that are related to the plan or program and the way in which said objectives and any environmental aspect have been taken into account during its preparation; 6. The probable significant effects on the environment, including aspects such as biodiversity, population, human health, fauna, flora, land, water, air, climatic factors, their impact on climate change, in particular, an adequate evaluation of the carbon footprint associated with the plan or program, material assets, cultural heritage, landscape and the interrelationship between these factors. These effects must include secondary, cumulative, synergistic, short, medium and long term, permanent and temporary, positive and negative effects; 7. The measures envisaged to prevent, reduce and, to the extent possible, offset any significant negative effect on the environment from the application of the plan or program, including those to mitigate its impact on climate change and allow its adaptation to climate change. same; 8. A summary of the reasons for the selection of the considered alternatives and a description of how the evaluation was carried out, including any difficulties, such as technical deficiencies or lack of knowledge and experience that may have been encountered in collecting the evaluation. required information; 9. An environmental monitoring program describing the measures planned for monitoring; 10. A non-technical summary of the information provided under the preceding headings. ANNEX V Criteria mentioned in article 31 to determine if a plan or program must be submitted to ordinary strategic environmental evaluation 1. The characteristics of the plans and programs, considering in particular: a) The extent to which the plan or program establishes a framework for projects and other activities, either in relation to the location, nature, dimensions, and operating conditions or in relation to the allocation of resources. b) The extent to which the plan or program influences other plans or programs, including those that are ranked. c) The relevance of the plan or program for the integration of considerations with the aim, in particular, of promoting sustainable development. d) Significant environmental problems related to the plan or program. Page 78 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION e) The relevance of the plan or program for the implementation of community or national legislation on the environment, such as, among others, plans or programs related to waste management or the protection of water resources. 2. The characteristics of the effects and the area likely to be affected, considering in particular: a) The probability, duration, frequency and reversibility of the effects. b) The cumulative nature of the effects. c) The cross-border nature of the effects. d) Risks to human health or the environment (due, for example, to accidents). e) The magnitude and spatial scope of the effects (geographical area and size of the population that may be affected). f) The value and vulnerability of the area likely to be affected by: 1. The special natural characteristics. 2nd The effects on cultural heritage. 3rd Exceeding limit values or environmental quality objectives. 4th intensive exploitation of the soil. 5th The effects on areas or landscapes with a recognized range of protection in the fields national, community or international. APPENDIX VI Environmental impact study, technical concepts and specifications related to the works, facilities or activities included in annexes I and II Part A: Environmental impact study: The environmental impact study, referred to in article 35, must include the detailed information in the sections below: 1. Purpose and description of the project. a) A description of the project location. b) A description of the physical characteristics of the project as a whole, including, where appropriate, the requirements of the demolition works that are imposed, and the needs in terms of land use, during the construction and exploitation phases. c) Description of the materials to be used, soil and land to be occupied, and other natural resources whose elimination or affectation is considered necessary for the execution of the project, and description of the main characteristics of the exploitation phase of the project (particularly any process of production), with indications, for example, on energy demand and energy used, the nature and quantity of materials and natural resources used (including water, land, soil and biodiversity). d) Description, where appropriate, of the types, quantities and composition of the waste produced during the construction, operation and, where appropriate, demolition phases, as well as the forecast of discharges and emissions that may occur (for example , contamination of water, air, soil and subsoil), or any other element derived from the action, such as natural seismic hazard, or seismic hazard induced by the project, whether temporary, during the execution of the work, or permanent, when it is already carried out and in operation, especially noise, vibrations, smells, light emissions, heat, radiation, particle emissions, etc. In the case of projects that are subject to the Regulation on nuclear and radioactive facilities, approved by Royal Decree 1836/1999, of December 3, the promoter must include in the environmental impact study, a forecast of the types, quantities and composition of the waste that will be produced during the construction, exploitation and dismantling phases, and of the discharges and radioactive emissions that may occur in normal operation, operational incidents and accidents; as well as the declaration of Page 79 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION compliance with the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) criteria in accordance with the basic radiological protection standards for these situations. e) The technologies and substances used. 2. Examination of project alternatives that are more environmentally appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of article 1.1.b) that are technically viable, and justification of the solution adopted. a) A multi-criteria examination, studied by the promoter, of the different alternatives that are more environmentally appropriate, and are relevant to the project, including the zero alternative, or no action, and that are technically viable for the proposed project and its characteristics. specific; and a justification of the proposed solution, including a comparison of environmental effects, which will take into account various criteria, such as economic and functional, including a comparison of environmental effects. The selection of the best alternative must be supported by a global multi-criteria analysis, which takes into account not only economic aspects, but also those of a social and environmental nature. b) A description of the foreseeable requirements in time, in order to use the land and other natural resources, for each alternative examined. c) Regarding alternative 0, or no action, a description will be made of the pertinent aspects of the current environmental situation (reference hypothesis), and a presentation of its probable evolution in the event that the project is not carried out, in the extent to which natural changes relative to the baseline scenario can be assessed with reasonable effort, based on the availability of environmental information and scientific knowledge. 3. Environmental inventory, and description of key ecological or environmental processes and interactions. a) Study of the state of the place and its environmental conditions, before carrying out the works, as well as the existing types of land occupation and use of other natural resources, taking into account pre-existing activities. b) Description, census, inventory, quantification and, where appropriate, cartography, of all the factors defined in article 35, section 1, letter c), that may be affected by the project: the population, human health, the biodiversity (for example, fauna and flora), land (for example, land cover), geodiversity, soil (for example, organic matter, erosion, compaction and sealing), subsoil, water (for example , hydromorphological modifications, quantity and quality), the marine environment, the air, the climate (for example, greenhouse gas emissions, significant impacts for adaptation), climate change, material goods, cultural heritage, as well as the architectural and archaeological aspects, the landscape in terms of the European Landscape Convention, and the interaction between all the mentioned factors. Where appropriate, for the affected water masses, the following will be established: their nature, characterization of the state, pressures, impacts and environmental objectives assigned by the hydrological planning. c) Description of the key ecological interactions, and their justification. d) Delimitation and mapped description of the territory affected by the project, for each of the defined environmental aspects. e) Comparative study of the current environmental situation, with the action derived from the project object of the evaluation, for each alternative examined. f) The previous descriptions and studies will be made succinctly, to the extent that they are accurate for understanding the possible effects of the project on the environment. 4. Identification and assessment of impacts, both in the proposed solution and in its alternatives. a) The identification, quantification and valuation of the foreseeable significant effects of the projected activities on the environmental aspects indicated in section 3 for each alternative examined will be included. Where appropriate, the modeling will be included. Page 80 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION necessary to complete the environmental inventory, and identify and assess the impacts of the project. b) Necessarily, the identification of the environmental impacts will derive from the study of the interactions between the actions derived from the project and the specific characteristics of the environmental aspects affected in each specific case. The actions to be studied will include the following: 1. The construction and existence of the project, including, where appropriate, the works of demolition. 2nd The use of natural resources, in particular land, soil, water and biodiversity (natural resources), taking into account, as far as possible, the sustainable availability of such resources. 3rd The emission of pollutants, noise, vibration, light, heat and radiation, the creation of nuisances and the elimination and recovery of waste. 4th risks to human health, cultural heritage or the environment (due, for example, to accidents or catastrophes). 5th The accumulation of the effects of the project with other projects, existing and/or approved, taking into account existing environmental problems related to areas of special environmental importance, which could be affected or the use of natural resources. 6th The impact of the project on the climate (for example, the nature and magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions, and the vulnerability of the project with respect to climate change). The description of the possible significant effects with respect to the factors mentioned in article 35.1, must cover the direct effects and the indirect, secondary, cumulative, cross-border, short, medium and long-term, permanent and temporary, positive and negative effects of the Project. This description must take into account the environmental protection objectives established at Union or Member State level, and significant for the project. Where appropriate, the repercussions of the project on the different quality elements that define the status or potential of the affected water masses. A description of the forecasting methods or data used to define and assess significant effects on the environment, including details of difficulties (for example, technical deficiencies or lack of knowledge) encountered in compiling the information, and the main uncertainties that they entail. c) The quantification of the significant effects of a plan, program or project on the environment will consist of the identification and description, through measurable data, of the expected variations of the habitats and of the affected species, as a consequence of the development of the plan or program, or by the execution of the project. In particular, expected variations in: 1. Habitat area or population size affected, directly or indirectly, through trophic chains, or environmental vectors, specifically, water, waste, energy or atmospheric flows, soil, sea shores and the estuaries For this, biophysical units of the affected habitat or species will be used. 2nd The intensity of the impact with quantitative and qualitative indicators. In the event of not finding a suitable indicator for this purpose, a scale can be designed that represents, in terms of percentage, the quality variations experienced by the affected habitats and species. 3rd The duration, frequency and reversibility of the effects that the impact will cause on the habitat and species. 4th The abundance or number of individuals, their density or the extension of their zone of presence. 5th The ecological diversity measured, at least, as number of species, or as description of their relative abundance. 6th The rarity of the species or habitat (assessed at the local, regional and higher levels, including the community level), as well as its degree of threat. Page 81 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION 7th The variation and changes that are going to experience, among others, the following parameters of the affected habitat and species: the state of conservation, the quantitative ecological state, physical integrity, and structure and function. d) Assessment. The compatible, moderate, severe and critical environmental impacts that are foreseen as a consequence of the execution of the project will be indicated. The identified and valued environmental impacts will be ranked in order to determine their relative importance. 5. Establishment of preventive, corrective and compensatory measures to reduce, eliminate or compensate for significant environmental effects. The measures planned to prevent, correct and, where appropriate, compensate, the significant adverse effects of the different project alternatives on the environment, both in terms of their design and location, as well as in terms of exploitation, dismantling or demolition. In particular, the necessary measures will be defined to mitigate the adverse effects on the state or potential of the affected water masses. The compensatory measures will consist, whenever possible, of actions of restoration, or of the same nature and effect contrary to that of the action taken. The project budget will include these measures with the same level of detail as the rest of the project, in a specific section, which will be incorporated into the environmental impact study. 6. Environmental surveillance and monitoring program. The environmental surveillance program will establish a system that guarantees compliance with the indications and the measures foreseen to prevent, correct and, where appropriate, compensate, contained in the environmental impact study, both in the execution phase and in the exploitation, dismantling or demolition. This program will attend to surveillance, during the works phase, and monitoring, during the exploitation phase of the project. The project budget will include environmental surveillance and monitoring, in the construction phase and the exploitation phase, in a specific section, which will be incorporated into the environmental impact study. The objectives of the environmental surveillance and monitoring program are the following: a) Environmental surveillance during the works phase: 1.º Detect and correct deviations, with environmental relevance, with respect to what was projected in the construction project. 2.º Supervise the correct execution of the environmental measures. 3.º Determine the need to suppress, modify or introduce new measures. 4th Monitoring of the evolution of the relevant environmental elements. b) Environmental monitoring during the exploitation phase. The environmental impact study will justify the temporary extension of this phase, considering the environmental relevance of the anticipated adverse effects: 1st Verify the correct evolution of the measures applied in the works phase. 2nd Monitoring of the response and environmental evolution of the environment to the implementation of the activity. 3.º Design the mechanisms of action before the appearance of unexpected effects or the malfunction of the planned corrective measures. 7. Project vulnerability. A description of the significant adverse effects of the project on the environment as a result of the vulnerability of the project to the risk of serious accidents and/or relevant catastrophes, in relation to the project in question. For this purpose, the relevant information available and obtained through risk assessments carried out in accordance with other regulations may be used, such as the regulations relating to the control of risks inherent in serious accidents involving dangerous substances (SEVESO), as well as the regulations that regulate the nuclear safety of nuclear facilities. Where appropriate, the description must include the measures planned to prevent and Page 82 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION mitigating the significant adverse effect of such events on the environment, and details of the proposed preparedness for and response to such emergencies. 8. Environmental assessment of repercussions in spaces of the Natura 2000 Network. The section on the impact assessment of the project on the Natura 2000 Network will include, separately for each of the project alternatives considered, the following: a) Identification of the affected spaces, and for each one identification of the habitats, species and other conservation objectives affected by the project, together with the description of their ecological requirements most likely affected by the project and the available quantitative, qualitative and descriptive cartography of its state of conservation at the scale of the entire space. b) Identification, characterization and quantification of the impacts of the project on the state of conservation of the habitats and species for which the site has been designated, on the rest of the conservation objectives specified in the corresponding management plan, and in its case on the connectivity with other spaces and on the other elements that give particular importance to the space in the context of the Network and contribute to its coherence. The evaluation of these impacts will be based on real and current information on the habitats and species that are the object of conservation in the area. c) Preventive and corrective measures aimed at mitigating the impacts, and compensatory measures aimed at compensating the residual impact, thereby avoiding a net deterioration of the set of variables that define the state of conservation of the habitats or species affected in the area as a whole. for the project. d) Specificities of the monitoring of the impacts and measures contemplated. 9. Non-technical summary of the information provided under the preceding headings. The summary document must not exceed twenty-five pages, and will be written in terms accessible to general understanding. 10. List of bibliographic references consulted for the preparation of studies and analysis and list of environmental regulations applicable to the project. Part B. Technical Concepts: a) Direct effect: One that has an immediate impact on some environmental aspect. b) Indirect or secondary effect: That which supposes an immediate incidence with respect to the interdependence, or, in general, regarding the relationship of one environmental sector with another. c) Cumulative effect: That which, when the action of the inducing agent is prolonged over time, progressively increases its severity, due to the lack of elimination mechanisms with a temporary effectiveness similar to that of the increase in the agent causing the damage. d) Synergistic effect: That which occurs when, the joint effect of the simultaneous presence of several agents, supposes an environmental incidence greater than the sum effect of the individual incidences contemplated in isolation. Also included in this type is that effect whose mode of action induces over time the appearance of new ones. e) Permanent effect: That which supposes an indefinite alteration over time of predominant action factors in the structure or in the function of the systems of ecological or environmental relations present in the place. f) Temporary effect: That which involves a non-permanent alteration over time, with a temporary period of manifestation that can be estimated or determined. g) Short-, medium- and long-term effect: That whose incidence can be manifested, respectively, within the time comprised in an annual cycle, before five years, or in a longer period. h) Compatible environmental impact: One whose recovery is immediate after the cessation of activity, and does not require preventive or corrective measures. Page 83 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION i) Moderate environmental impact: The one whose recovery does not require intensive preventive or corrective measures, and in which the achievement of the initial environmental conditions requires some time. j) Severe environmental impact: That in which the recovery of environmental conditions requires preventive or corrective measures, and in which, even with these measures, that recovery requires a long period of time. k) Critical environmental impact: That whose magnitude is greater than the acceptable threshold. With it there is a permanent loss of the quality of the environmental conditions, without possible recovery, even with the adoption of protective or corrective measures. l) Residual impact: Losses or alterations of natural values quantified in number, surface, quality, structure and function, which cannot be avoided or repaired, once all possible prevention and correction measures have been applied in situ. m) Seismic hazard: Probability that the value of a certain parameter that measures ground motion (intensity, acceleration, etc.) will be exceeded in a given period of time. n) Fractioning of projects: Artificial mechanism for dividing a project with the aim of avoiding the ordinary environmental impact assessment in the event that the sum of the magnitudes exceeds the thresholds established in Annex I. Part C. Specifications relating to the works, installations or activities included in annexes I and II: a) Crude oil refineries (excluding companies that only produce lubricants from crude oil), as well as gasification and liquefaction facilities for at least 500 tons of oil shale coal per day. b) Thermal power plants and other combustion facilities with thermal power of at least 300 MW, as well as nuclear power plants and other nuclear reactors (excluding research facilities for the production and transformation of fissile and fertile materials in which the maximum power does not exceed 1 KW of thermal permanent duration). Nuclear power plants and other nuclear reactors are no longer considered as such installations when all the nuclear fuel and other radioactively contaminated elements have been definitively removed from the installation site. c) Installations intended exclusively for permanent storage, or definitive disposal of radioactive waste: For the purposes of this law, permanent storage of radioactive waste, whatever its temporary duration, will be understood as that which is specifically designed for said activity, and which is outside the scope of the nuclear or radioactive facility that produces said waste. d) Integrated chemical facilities: For the purposes of this law, integrated chemical facilities shall be understood as those facilities for the industrial-scale manufacture of substances through chemical transformation, in which several units functionally linked to each other are juxtaposed, and which are used for the production of basic organic chemicals, basic inorganic chemicals, fertilizers based on phosphorus, nitrogen or potassium (simple or compound fertilizers), basic plant protection products and biocides, basic pharmaceuticals by means of a chemical or biological and explosives. When the integrated chemical installation intends to be located in a specific location in which there was no set of pre-existing chemical plants, it will be subject to this law, whatever the chemical product that is the object of its manufacture. When the integrated chemical facility intends to locate itself in a specific location where a group of chemical plants already exists, it will be subject to this law if the chemical substances or mixtures in its manufacturing process are classified as dangerous in accordance with Regulation (EC ) no. 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of December 16, 2008, on classification, labeling and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP). The impact assessment must take into account the provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006, of the European Parliament and of the Council, of December 18, 2006, regarding the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of Page 84 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION chemical substances and preparations (REACH), by which the European Agency for Chemical Substances and Preparations is created. e) Construction of highways, dual carriageways, multi-lane highways, conventional highways and population bypasses. For the purposes of this law, articles 2 and 4 of Law 37/2015, of September 29, on Roads will apply. f) Airports with takeoff and landing runways of a length greater than or equal to 2,100 meters: For the purposes of this law, airport shall be understood as the definition contained in Law 48/1960, of July 21, on Air Navigation, and in the Chicago Convention of 1944, relative to the creation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (Annex 14). In this sense, an airport is understood as the defined area of land or water (which includes all its buildings, installations and equipment), totally or partially destined for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft. g) Commercial ports: Waterways and inland waterway ports that allow access to ships over 1,350 tons and marinas. In relation to inland waterways and ports, which allow access to ships over 1,350 tons, it will be understood that they allow access to ships over 1,350 tons of tonnage. h) Hazardous waste disposal facilities by incineration, chemical treatment or land storage. For the purposes of this law, chemical treatment will be understood, referring to physical-chemical treatment, and by land storage, security deposit will be understood on land. The elimination operations D3, D5, D8, D9, D10, D12 of the Annex I of Law 22/2011, of July 28, on waste and contaminated soils. i) Uncultivated land and semi-natural areas: For the purposes of this law, land that has never been cultivated is understood to be included in this denomination, or those that having been cultivated, have suffered an abandonment of said activity, and that meet the conditions and terms determined by Law 43/2003, of November 21, on Forests, and which has allowed them to be populated by woody forest vegetation. j) Open pit mining of coal, lignite or other mineral deposits: For the purposes of this law, open pit mining shall mean those tasks or activities for the use or exploitation of mineral deposits, and other geological resources, which necessarily that require the application of mining techniques and are not carried out by means of underground works. The application of mining technique is considered necessary in cases where explosives must be used, cuts, pits or banks of 3 meters or more height must be formed, or the use of any kind of machinery. k) Land use change: For the purposes of this law, land use change shall be understood as the transformation of any rural land use into each other (agricultural, livestock, forestry, hunting or any other linked to the use rational use of natural resources), when it involves a substantial alteration of the vegetation cover, or the transformation of the use of rural land into developable land. l) Consolidation and improvement of irrigation: For the purposes of this law, consolidation of irrigation will be understood as actions that affect irrigation systems that lack water, either due to lack of water, or due to excessive losses in the pipes, and that have as in order to complete the water needs of existing crops. Irrigation improvement actions are considered to be those that affect the irrigated surface sufficiently endowed, or very endowed, with water, on which actions that entail improvements aimed at saving water, or socioeconomic improvements of the farms are considered appropriate. m) Quarterly average value: Quarterly average value will be understood, taking into account the days of effective production, the period of 90 consecutive days of maximum production. n) Average annual value: The average annual value will be understood as the average of the average daily values, throughout a calendar year. ñ) Hotel installation: For the purposes of this law, they will be considered as facilities hotels those tourist accommodation enabled for the public. o) Electric power transmission: includes the activity (transport), the facilities (high and medium voltage interconnected network) and the purpose (supply to end customers or distributors). Substations are included in this concept. Page 85 Machine Translated by Google STATE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER CONSOLIDATED LEGISLATION Related information • See Judgment of TC 53/2017, of May 11. Ref. BOE-A-2017-6849, declaring that the following precepts are not unconstitutional, if they are interpreted in the terms established in the corresponding legal basis indicated: article 33.2 (legal basis 6); articles 18.4, 29.4, 39.4 and 45.4 (legal basis 7); article 34.1 (legal basis 8); article 50.1 (legal basis 16). This consolidated text has legal value. Page 86