Immission control - Display changes to an installation requiring authorisation in accordance with BImSchG

Prerequisite

The competent authority must be notified of any planned changes to an installation requiring a permit under immission control legislation at least one month before the change is to begin.

The modification may be carried out by the operator as soon as the competent licensing authority states that the modification does not require a licence - so-called declaration of exemption - or the authority has not issued a statement within one month of receipt of the notification - so-called legal fiction. This does not apply in the case of an incident-relevant change in accordance with Section 15 (2a). In this case, a review period of two months applies and the legal fiction does not apply. In these cases, the changes may only be made once the responsible immission control authority has notified that no authorisation is required.

Responsible department

The responsibilities in the area of immission control are regulated in the Immission Control Competence Ordinance of the state of Baden-Württemberg.

In most cases, the competent authority for installations requiring authorisation under immission control legislation is the local lower immission control authority, i.e

• the district office if the premises with the plant are located in a district,
• the city administration if the premises with the installation are located in a city district.

A different responsibility applies in the following cases (among others, for companies that are subject to the European Industrial Emissions Directive, the Hazardous Incident Ordinance or mining law):

Departments 5, Environment of the respective locally responsible regional councils are the competent immission control authorities for company premises on which

• at least one installation marked with the letter E in column d of Annex 1 of the Ordinance on Installations Requiring a Licence,
• at least one operating area in accordance with Section 3 (5a) of the Federal Immission Control Act (hazardous incident operation),
• at least one installation that requires a licence pursuant to Section 60 (3) sentence 1 no. 2 or no. 3 of the Federal Water Act, or
• at least one landfill in accordance with Article 10 in conjunction with Annex I of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control), as amended

exists or is to be constructed.

Department 9, State Office for Geology, Raw Materials and Mining of the Freiburg Regional Council is also the state-wide competent immission control authority for

• Operational sites, including the facilities and activities located on them, which are subject to mining supervision,
• Operating sites with cable cars and funicular railways used for passenger transport,
• Sites with high-pressure gas pipelines which, as energy installations within the meaning of the Energy Industry Act, serve to supply gas and which are designed for a maximum permissible operating pressure of more than 16 bar,
• Underground waste disposal facilities and
• Operating sites with facilities used for the construction, significant expansion and significant modification of underground cavities.

Please ensure that you submit your notification to the immission control authority responsible for your facility.

Procedure

In the notification procedure, the responsible immission control authority only checks whether a notification is sufficient or whether an authorisation procedure must be carried out instead due to the scope of the planned change.

If no online procedure is available, please use forms 1 to 3 of "Annex 2" of the Guidelines for Authorisation and Notification Procedures under the Federal Immission Control Act of the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg for the notification.

The notification must be accompanied by the documents required for an assessment. If further documents are required by the competent immission control authority for an assessment, these must be submitted subsequently. In such cases, the period of one month begins to run from the date on which the documents are complete (receipt by the authority).

You may start modifying an installation if the competent authority

• has not responded within one month or
• informs you that no modification licence is required.

This does not apply if it is an accident-relevant modification in accordance with Section 15 (2a), for which there is a review period of two months. The changes may only be carried out once the responsible immission control authority has notified that no authorisation is required.

If other permits or authorisations are required for the project, these must be applied for separately, for example building permits.

Deadlines

Notification of a planned change must be made at least one month before the start of the change.

Required documents

The notification must be accompanied by the documents required for an assessment. These are, for example

• Descriptions of the project, including information on plant components, process steps, material and product data,
• schematic diagrams and flow charts,
• Information on possible disruptions to normal operation,
• Information on emissions and immissions,
• Information on waste and waste water,
• Construction documents: site plan, construction drawings, construction description,
• the relevant forms 1 - 3 of "Annex 2" of the Guidelines for Authorisation and Notification Procedures under the Federal Immission Control Act of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector (not required for online procedures).

The competent authority may request further documents if necessary.

When notifying the decommissioning of an installation, documents on the measures planned by the operator to fulfil the aftercare obligations arising from Section 5 (3) and (4) BImSchG must be enclosed.

Costs

The fees are based on the investment costs for modifying the system.

Miscellaneous

Coordinate in advance with the responsible immission control authority regarding the documents required for an assessment.

Please ensure that you submit the notification to the immission control authority responsible for your plant requiring authorisation under immission control law.

Appeal

If the responsible immission control authority informs you that a change authorisation procedure must be carried out for the project, an objection can be lodged against this or, in the case of decisions by the regional councils, a complaint can be filed.

Legal basis

Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetzt (BImSchG):

• § 4 Genehmigung
• § 15 Änderung genehmigungsbedürftiger Anlagen
• § 16 Wesentliche Änderung genehmigungsbedürftiger

Release note

machine generated, based on the German release by: Umweltministerium Baden-Württemberg, 06.05.2024