Decree No. 54/2015 approving the Regulation on the Process for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

This Decree approves the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulation. This Regulation, consisting of 30 articles divided into five Chapters and eight Annexes, applies to all public or private activities that may directly or indirectly influence the environment. It classifies activities for the purpose of defining the type of EIA and the respective exemptions, defining competencies of the Environmental Impact Assessment Authority, and regulating the process instruction, the pre-assessment to which all activities that are likely to have an impact on the environment. It specifies the factors determining the evaluation criteria, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the Simplified Environmental Study (EAS), the objectives of the Technical Commissions for Environmental Impact Assessment, the obligations and rights of the Expert Reviewers, the process of public participation and the deadlines of the EIA processes, and further regulating environmental licensing, consultants and tenders, inspection, fees and penalties.
The environmental licensing process consists of three stages: 1. Issuance of the Provisional Environmental License (issued after approval of the EPDA to EIA); 2. Issuance of the Environmental Installation License (issued after approval of the Environmental Impact Study and presentation of the approved Resettlement Plan); 3. Issuance of the Operation Environmental License (issued after verification/inspection of compliance with the EIA versus project and implementation of the Resettlement Plan. The Regulation is divided as follows: General Provisions (Chap. I); Environmental Impact Assessment (Chap. II); Environmental Licensing (Chap. III); Environmental Consultants and Proponents (Chap. IV); Inspection, Fees and Sanctions (Chap. V).