FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Tarja Pirinen, Fiiu Linninen, Teija Lius and Marko Koski, HPP Attorneys Ltd
The competent environmental supervisory authorities in relation to mining operations are the regional Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, ELY Centre ( elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus, ELY- keskus ), which supervise – eg, the compliance with the EPA and the environmental permits. ELY Centres also act as contact authorities and issue justified statements in the environmental impact assessments carried out in accordance with the EIA Act. Municipalities have a central role in land use planning, and wide discretional powers to decide whether to approve or reject a plan. Municipali - ties also function as permit authorities for con - struction permits and other land use and build - ing permits. Environmental Permit Pursuant to the EPA, an environmental permit is required for activities that involve a risk of environmental pollution. Mining operations and the excavation of gold with machines require an environmental permit, as does an ore or mineral concentration plant. The majority of exploration is of a nature that can be carried out without an environmental permit, but exploration may also require an environmental permit if the impacts of the planned activities (eg, test mining) exceed the criteria set out in the EPA. An environmental permit shall be applied for in accordance with the EPA. The permit considera - tion is based on judicial discretion, which means that the environmental permit must be granted to the operator should the requirements set in the EPA be fulfilled. Rejection of a permit application or permit decision and its individual regulations may be appealed against. In addition to the parties con -
cerned – ie, permit applicant, neighbours and other persons affected by the activity, environ - mental NGOs and those who may be affected by the operations have the right to appeal a permit decision. The first appellate instance is the Administrative Court of Vaasa and the second and final instance is the Supreme Administrative Court. However, it should be noted that the right to appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court in environmen - tal cases is subject to a requirement of leave to appeal. Leave to appeal is granted under the Administrative Judicial Procedure Act (No 808/2019, laki oikeudenkäynnistä hallintoasiois- sa ), if the matter involves a need for a precedent or an obvious error, or if there is another serious reason for issuing a decision on the merits of the case. The EPA governs an integrated permit regime for emissions into air, water and soil, and the generation of waste. However, the environmental permit does not necessarily cover all activities on the project site, in which case other permits or notifications pursuant to other environmental laws may be required. A mining operation often requires a water permit for intake of water for the purposes of mining operations or building of ponds. Any such water permit is processed together with the environmental permit and both permits are included in one decision unless this is deemed unnecessary for a special reason. EIA Procedure Pursuant to Annex 1 of the EIA Act, mining, con - centration and processing of metal ore or other mining minerals requires an EIA when the aggre - gate amount of the excavated material is at the minimum 550,000 tonnes per year, or the mine covers an area of more than 25 hectares. The mining, concentration and processing of ura -
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