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The New Environmental Impact Assessment
Regulation in Force
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Att. Alper Uzun
Introduction
Establishments, institutions, and businesses that may cause envi-
ronmental problems via their activities, are obliged to obtain
Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) Reports, or prepare project
description files. The regulation on the EIA (“Regulation”) entered
into force through its publication in the Official Gazette dated
November 25, 2014. Along with the new Regulation, harmonization
with the European Union EIA Directive is accomplished (excluding
the trans-boundary EIA), and the new provisions that determine the
activities requiring an EIA Report are introduced. The Regulation
states that necessary amendments are made in order for it to become
more comprehensive and practical.
Summary on the Amendments
In conjunction with the Regulation, shopping centers are no longer
exempt from the EIA Regulation. The Regulation stipulates that a pro-
ject description report for shopping centers must be prepared and sub-
mitted to the Environment and Urbanization Provincial Directorates. It
also regulates that the mass housing projects, which are comprised of
500 and more houses, shall be subject to the EIA Regulation. A real
threshold for golfing facilities are also removed.
The conditions regarding the installed capacity of hydroelectric
power plant projects operating at 25 MWm is amended. Currently, the
said amount is lowered to 10 MWm. While hospitals and dialysis cen-
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NEWSLETTER 2014
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Article of December 2014