Obstacles, challenges and good practices in relation to public participation in decision-making:

1. Obstacles, challenges and good practices in relation to public participation in decision-making: Identifying, notifying concerned parties in Spain 6th meeting of the TF on Public Participation 10-11 February 2016 Ana Barreira Instituto Internacional de Derecho y Medio Ambiente e-mail: ana.barreira@iidma.org www.iidma.org

2. Relevant Aarhus Convention provision Article 6.2. 2. The public concerned shall be informed, either by public notice or individually as appropriate, early in an environmental decision-making procedure, and in an adequate, timely and effective manner, inter alia, of:. Criteria for notice: • Effective notice: tools for notification • Adequate notice: notification to be given to the whole public concerned (identifying) early enough • Timely: time frames between having access to document, preparing comments and submitting them

3. Identification of concerned public in Spain • “concerned public” in an administrative procedure are consulted at different stages of granting a permit including permits within Annex I of the AC • In general, there is no previous identification of “concerned public” although there are a few specific provisions which require it: • Under EIA Law if the promoter requests the competent body to prepare a scoping document to prepare the EI Study, then the competent body has to identify and consult the concerned administrations and public (main national and local NGOs mainly), if not the competent body has to identify and consult the concerned administrations and public on the EI Study • When the development of a project requires the occupation of private property and rights and/or taking of that property and rights, Law on Eminent Domain of 1956 (or compulsory acqusition) and its Regulation establishes a procedure which entails the obligation of the promoter to identify the names and address of the owners

4. Public notice to concerned public Effective notice Under Law on Administrative procedure, public consultation is announced in official journals (State and regional). This announcement or “public notice” is not only addressed to “concerned parties” but also to the public in general. Public notices in main news papers at the State and regional levels also take place In some cases notices are also published in the electronic offices of certain Administrations

5. Public notice to concerned parties • Is the general practice of notification to concerned public adequate? • Does effectively targets at least the public concerned with the decision? Yes and No • Does it take place at en early stage of the proceeding? Normally takes place once the Administration has received the application from the promoter containing the relevant documents ( EI Study, application for an IPPC permit…) • The notification always refers to the project under consultation

6. Public notice to concerned public (timely) • IPPC Law 16/2002 and Law on EIA provide that public consultation or participation shall be common to IPPC permit procedure, EIA and substantive authorization within a 30 days timeframe • Some cases: Combined cycle power plant UGS Project Wind farm project

7. Public notice to concerned public Under the Spanish Law on EIA a specific consultation procedure for concerned public is provided requiring a personal notification Most of the time not all concerned public is identified and if the concerned public wants to obtain such a consideration is required to file an application for such a recognizition

8. Conclusions • Good practices on concerned public identification are found in the Law on Eminent Domain and to certain extent in Law on EIA • Obstacles on “timely” notification is found in EIA and IPPC Laws • The fact that most of the times notifications are collectively done through official journals for concerned public and the public in general remains a challenge