The Senate wants more certainty on environmental law

The Senate has major concerns about whether the decentralized authorities will be adequately equipped to introduce the environment law on January 1. The Senate noted in an oral consultation last Tuesday that many municipalities have not yet completed the conversion of all relevant APVs into environmental law. The rules applied in the DSO are far from being understood by citizens and the local area lacks a well-established participatory policy.

not ready

This afternoon, Senator Saskia Cloete (PvdA-GroenLinks) requested a questioning debate on the Environment Act. This discussion comes as a follow-up to the oral consultation with the Minister on October 24th. In the debate, a motion will be made stating that the Senate considers that the implementation practice is not ready for a responsible introduction of the Environmental Law and calls on Minister De Jong (Public Housing and Spatial Planning, CDA) for urgent consultations with municipalities. There is a majority in support of this proposal in the Senate.

Staff shortage

The Environment Bill will be introduced on January 1. Due to staff shortages, small municipalities in particular expect problems during implementation. Also because environmental law assumes shorter decision-making periods for the initiatives presented.

not satisfied

According to the Senate, despite previous commitments, De Jonge did not meet minimum implementation quality requirements upon entry into force, such as the Digital Environment System Act. This threatens to put pressure on the legal protection and legal certainty of citizens and companies in the Netherlands.