Wpisy pasujące do tagu concession

On 22 May 2015, after several months of awaiting, the text of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 20 April 2015 concerning the application for qualification procedure was published in the Journal of Laws (Journal of Laws of 2015, item 708). The regulation came into force as of 23 May 2015.

The lengthiness of proceedings is a frequent problem in the adjudication of administrative cases. This issue is particularly relevant when it comes to various kinds of proceedings related to business activity, such as the obtaining of a concession.

As a matter of fact, the notion of validity of an environmental decision remains undefined. With respect to such decisions, one may rather talk about the possibility of its application by the investor within a certain limit of time. According to Article 72(3) of the Act of 3 October 2008 providing information on the environment and environmental protection, public participation in environmental protection and on environmental impact assessment (Environmental Information Act), the environmental decision should be attached to an application for a decision concerning, inter alia, a concession for the extraction of minerals from deposits. The submission of the relevant application should take place within 6 years of the date on which the environmental decision became final. In case of a project which is implemented in stages, and provided that the conditions defined in the environmental decision have not changed, the application may be submitted within 10 years of the date on which the environmental decision became final.

Mining plant operations plan is the basic document serving as the grounds for the operations of mining plant. The amendment of the Geological and Mining Law (further: GML) of July 2014 lifted the requirement for heads of commune (mayors or city presidents) to issue opinions on operation plans as part of the procedure conducted to approve such plans by a mining supervision authority. It does not mean, however, that asking for the opinions of local government authorities has been completely done away with. The opinion is still required, but currently it must be submitted at the stage before filing the application for the approval of an operations plan and it should be enclosed by entrepreneurs as an appendix to the application.

We have recently written about delays in the adopting of implementing regulations to the amended Geological and Mining Law Act, including, in particular, about the lack of one of the most significant regulations concerning the application for qualification procedure.

The amendment of the Geological and Mining Law of 11 July 2014 also introduced certain changes to the regulations concerning mining usufruct. It is worth reminding that, under the Polish legal system governing the activities related to prospecting, exploration and production, the fact that an entrepreneur is the holder of a concession is not tantamount to their ability to carry out works in the subsurface. For the works to be initiated, it is also necessary to sign a mining usufruct agreement in the form of a civil law contract concluded with the State Treasury.

Directive no. 2000/60/EC – the so-called Water Framework Directive (WFD) – is a legal act establishing the framework for the water policy of the European Union, according to which Member States have been obliged to prevent the deterioration of the condition of waters and to ensure the good condition of waters. WFD was implemented into the Polish legal system through the provisions of the Water Law (the Act of 18 July 2001). According to the Water Law, the management of water resources takes place on the basis of river basin management plans (RBMP), which contain information about the environmental objectives set for specific waters.

Changes in the Act of 9 June 2011 – Geological and Mining Law which were introduced with the amendment of 11 July 2014 involve the necessity to change the existing or to adopt new implementing acts.

The government bill on the amendment of acts governing the conditions for access to certain professions (third tranche of deregulation) stipulates a series of changes and facilitating measures for obtaining, among others, geological qualifications.

The hype around the shale gas boom and the forecasts published in the previous years, according to which Poland has great chances of becoming a “hydrocarbon Eldorado” resulted in a situation when the amendment of the Geological and Mining Law (GML) of 11 July 2014 was associated in the media mainly with the so-called “shales”.

The amendment of the Geological and Mining Law of July 2014 introduced certain significant changes to the rules of awarding and implementing concessions concerning hydrocarbons.

The conference entitled “Geological and Mining Law” was held on 13 and 14 January 2015 in the Warsaw Bristol hotel. The event gathered over 90 representatives of companies operating in mining industry.