permit for installations

noun · immissionsschutzrechtliche Genehmigung

Where an installation is listed as requiring a permit, § 4 BImSchG, it may not be built or operated without one, but the operator has a legal claim to it once the statutory requirements are met, § 6 BImSchG, so the decision is bound rather than discretionary. The permit also absorbs most other official approvals for the installation, § 13 BImSchG.

Which translation, when

gebundene Entscheidungno discretion: § 6 BImSchG sets out the requirements, essentially that the operator duties of § 5 and the requirements of the implementing regulations are ensured and that no other provisions of public law and no aspects of occupational safety conflict; where they are met the applicant has a claim to the permit, so the authority may not weigh the project against alternatives, which the discretion entry explains for administrative law generally.

Konzentrationswirkungone decision for many: § 13 BImSchG makes the permit include the other official decisions relating to the installation, above all the building permit, but the provision names four exceptions that stay outside it, plan approval procedures, approvals of mining operating plans, decisions under nuclear law and the water-law permits and licences the statute identifies, so a plant that abstracts or discharges water still needs its own water-law decision; subject to that, the operator deals with one authority and one procedure instead of several, and a translation that lists building consent separately describes a different jurisdiction.

vier Wirkungenwhat the permit does: it lifts the statutory prohibition, it confers protection of the existing operation which can be removed only under the conditions of the later-order and revocation provisions, it concentrates the other approvals, and it shapes private law by barring neighbours from demanding that the operation be stopped, leaving them compensation instead.

Why

Permit for installations is the immissionsschutzrechtliche Genehmigung, and three features distinguish it from a British planning or environmental permit. The first is the trigger. Section 4 BImSchG makes construction and operation of the installations listed by regulation subject to a permit, and everything not listed runs on the lighter regime for installations not requiring a permit, so the first question is always whether the type of plant appears on the list. The second is the nature of the decision. Section 6 BImSchG states the requirements, in substance that compliance with the operator duties of § 5 and with the implementing regulations is ensured and that no other public-law provisions and no concerns of occupational safety stand in the way; where those requirements are met the applicant has a legal claim to the permit. The authority does not balance the project against the public interest and cannot refuse it because a different site would be better, which surprises readers used to a planning judgment. The third is reach. Under § 13 BImSchG the permit includes the other official decisions concerning the installation, the building permit above all, so a single procedure before a single authority largely replaces the bundle of consents an English project needs. The concentration is not complete, though, and the exceptions matter in practice: plan approval procedures, approvals of mining operating plans, decisions under nuclear law and the water-law permits and licences the provision identifies remain separate, which means that an industrial plant taking cooling water or discharging effluent runs a second procedure alongside the first. Around these sit the further effects German doctrine lists: the permit removes the statutory prohibition, it protects the existing operation against later interference except under the conditions the statute sets, and it shapes private law, since neighbours can no longer demand that operation cease and are left with compensation claims.

Typical mistakes

The permit is a bound decision and not a planning judgment, § 6 BImSchG, so describing the authority as weighing the project against alternatives misstates the German procedure.
The permit concentrates other approvals including the building permit, § 13 BImSchG, so listing separate consents describes a different system.
Only installations listed by regulation require a permit, so applying the regime to every industrial plant overstates its scope.

What matters

Advising a foreign investor on a German plant: the note should check whether the installation type is listed, present the permit as a claim once the requirements are met, and explain that the building permit is absorbed rather than obtained separately.

Authority

§ 4 BImSchG
§ 6 BImSchG
§ 13 BImSchG

What the machine misses

Automatic output for permit for installations gives Anlagenerlaubnis or Betriebsgenehmigung, neither of which the statute uses, and the German instrument is the immissionsschutzrechtliche Genehmigung of § 4 BImSchG, a bound decision the applicant can claim under § 6 and one that absorbs the building permit under § 13; the invented wording also suggests a discretionary planning judgment that German law does not make.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

a permit for the installation	eine immissionsschutzrechtliche Genehmigung
installations requiring a permit	genehmigungsbedürftige Anlagen
the applicant has a claim to the permit	der Antragsteller hat einen Anspruch auf die Genehmigung
the permit includes other official decisions	die Genehmigung schließt andere behördliche Entscheidungen ein

More notes on these sections

environmental impact assessment Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung