REALWorld Law

Construction

Environmental assessment and sustainability

What type of legislation exists dealing with environmental issues affecting building works and with promoting sustainable developments?

Belgium

Belgium

In the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels Capital Regions, the European directive regarding ‘Environmental Impact Assessment Directive’ (Directive 85/337/EC, consolidated as Directive 2011/92/EU) and ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment’ (Directive 2001/12/EC) are applicable to regional law. This means that for certain kinds of individual infrastructure projects, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required and is integrated into the building and/or environmental permit procedure. For zoning plans (plans that define the public planning prescriptions that apply in a certain area), an EIA is also required, except in certain well-defined circumstances.

In the Flanders Region, the EIA legislation is contained in the Decree of 5 April 1995 containing the general principles of environmental policy (Title IV), together with its executive decrees.

In the Walloon Region, the EIA for projects and plans is integrated by the Environmental Codex of 27 May 2004 and its Executive Decrees.

In the Brussels Capital Region, the EIA for projects is included in the Environmental Permit Decree of 5 June 1997, and the EIA for plans and programmes is included in the Decree of 18 March 2004 regarding EIA for certain plans and programmes.

It is important to note that this legislation has been modified, since the European Court of Justice ruled in a judgement of 24 March 2011 (C-435/09, European Commission/ Belgium), that the EIA legislation in the Regions was not in compliance with EU law. By the Decree of 23 March 2012 the Flemish Region adapted its EIA regulation to comply with the judgement. From then on, smaller-scale projects that previously were excluded from the EIA requirement, will be screened for the need for a full EIA. This means that currently, there are EIA-mandatory projects, EIA-exempt projects and projects requiring screening in the Flemish Region.