Authorization and eia of industrial installations: A legal comparison of france, germany, and switzerland

According to Article 7, second sentence2 of the EU EIA Directive 85/337 EEC transfrontier cooperation must comply with the principles of “reciprocity and equivalence.” This presupposes an in-depth knowledge (both procedural and substantive) of the law on the authorization of industrial installations and the role of EIA in this context. The study reported here shows that within the framework of transfrontier environmental operations, procedural law is of major importance; thus, it makes a number of proposals for corresponding regulations. In the field of substantive law the central problems—both nationally and in terms of international harmonization—lie in the field of air pollution, more specifically, “immissions.”3 The extensive lack of air quality standards leaves a great many cases to be treated on their merits. Except for standards for ubiquitous substances such as SO2, NOx, dust, etc., competent authorities are left to their own resources to make decisions. Hence, at present there seems to be no suitable basis for new international agreements. The provision of further abstract obligations, guidelines, or questions to be pursued will not lead to corresponding or equivalent decisions, which would help avoid distortions in competition. On the emission side, the situation is notably less problematic and has given rise only to a few proposals.