Environmental permits 

An environmental permit is a permit based on the Environmental Protection Act (527/2014) and the Environmental Protection Decree (713/2014), issued pursuant thereto for activities that cause a risk of environmental pollution. 

Activities subject to an environmental permit are listed in sections 1-2 of the Environmental Protection Decree. In addition, all activities listed in section 27, subsection 2 of the Environmental Protection Act (discharges into water bodies, waste water management and unreasonable harm as defined by legislation related to neighbourly relations) are subject to a permit. 

Environmental permits define a set of regulations regarding the emissions caused by the proposed activity and their limitation, waste and waste reduction, as well as measures for dealing with disruptions and preventing the risk of pollution. 

Depending on the scope of the operation, applications for an environmental permit are to be submitted either to the municipality's environmental protection authority or to the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland. The Uusikaupunki Environmental and Licensing Board acts as the environmental protection authority of Uusikaupunki, Taivassalo, Kustavi and Vehmaa. Environmental permits are prepared either by the environmental protection manager or environmental secretary. 

The processing time for environmental permits in Uusikaupunki is four months on average. 

It is necessary to obtain a permit in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act for activities that may cause environmental pollution. Such activities include, for example, the forest industry, energy production, operations in which organic solvents are used, the extraction of ores, minerals and soil materials, food production, animal shelters, professional and institutional treatment of waste and wastewater. Environmental permits determine a set of regulations regarding the allowed scope of operations, supervision, emissions and their reduction, etc. One of the prerequisites for granting a permit is that the activity must not cause harm to the health or significant environmental pollution or risk thereof. 

Environmental permit applications may be submitted either electronically or in paper form, in which case you must submit at least three copies of the application and the required attachments. The attachments mentioned in the form, including maps, an urban area development plan, structural drawings and a list of bordering neighbours, must be submitted together with the application. Permit applications must be submitted together with the required attachments to the licensing authority, which, depending on the scope of the operations, is the Environmental and Licensing Board of the City of Uusikaupunki or the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland. 

Leave your permit application

Processing of permit applications

You should allow at least four months for the processing of a permit application. After a permit application has been carefully filled out and submitted with the required attachments to the licensing authority, it will be checked and the applicant will be asked to correct any deficiencies. After that, the permit application will be announced on the City's notice boards for 30 days. During that time, stakeholders may submit objections regarding the permit application, and any necessary statements will also be requested during this period. During the permit processing period, an inspection will be carried out at the place where the activity is set to be carried out. 

When the notification period is over, the permit applicant is given the opportunity to respond to any objections and statements submitted during that period. When all necessary matters have been clarified, the permit application is submitted to the Environment and Licensing Board for decision-making. Decisions are made on the Tuesday following the board meeting. Decisions are announced on the municipality's electronic notice board. The 30-day appeal period starts from the date of notification of the decision, and during that period, the decision can be appealed to the Vaasa Administrative Court. 

When the appeal period has expired and if no appeals have been lodged, the decision will become final and the planned operations may be initiated.