The Environmental Authorities

The Environmental Authorities, established within the context of the 1994-1999 Community programming period, promote the integration of the environmental component in all the sectors covered by the Structural Funds.

Article 6 of the Treaty of Amsterdam (pdf, 364 Kb) lays down that "Environmental protection requirements must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the Community policies and activities with a view to promoting sustainable development" and represents the juridical basis for referring to the principle of sustainable development in every Structural Funds programming phase and, within the national context, for including the Environmental Authorities among the bodies responsible for the integration process, consistently with the guidelines of the Göteborg strategy (pdf, 84 Kb).

Therefore, the role and tasks of the Environmental Authorities have been legitimated by article 3.2 of the CIPE (Inter-ministerial Committee for Economic Planning) Resolution no. 83 of August 4, 2000 (pdf, 67 Kb), and paragraph 2.6.2 of the 2000-2006 Community Support Framework (CSF).

The Environmental Authorities are entrusted with the task of:

• in a prospect of sustainable development, promoting the integration of the environmental component in all the sectors of activity of the Funds and ensuring the conformity of such operations with Community policies and regulations in environmental matters;
• in the perspective of the Göteborg sustainable development strategy, creating the conditions for a full integration of the environmental component in the ordinary processes of definition, implementation, monitoring and assessment of development policies, plans and programs.

Besides, considering the provisions laid down during the start-up of the 2000-2006 programming, the national and regional Environmental Authorities - each one within its province - are entrusted with the task of:

• cooperating in a systematic manner with the project Managing Authorities and those responsible for the priority axes and the measures throughout the phases of the project preparation (starting from the Programme Complements), implementation (including the definition of the project selection criteria), supervision, monitoring and assessment of the operations), with a view to implementing objectives, criteria and indicators of environmental sustainability, as well as ensuring the proper enforcement of Community, national and regional regulations concerning the environment; ensuring the assessment of such aspects as the conservation of the historical-architectural and archeological heritage and the natural landscape;
• coordinating their activities with those of the Technical Evaluation and Verification Unit of the Ministry of Economic Development - Department for Development and Cohesion Policies, and the network of the Regional Units, in the definition of the technical and methodological guidelines inherent in the evaluation of environmental aspects;
• in a cooperative effort with the competent authorities, preparing adequate and regularly updated syntheses of the databases on the state of the environment connected with the actions financed by the Funds;
• cooperating in the draft of the yearly reports on the implementation of the Operational Programs, paying special attention to the aspects related to the pursuit of the environmental and environmental sustainability objectives of the measures, as well as the compatibility with the Community policies and regulations in environmental matters. The yearly implementation report includes an analysis of the role played by the Environmental Authorities and its effectiveness in respect of the environmental sustainability of the projects.

With a view to supporting the 2000-2006 programming of the Structural Funds, the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea has worked out a technical assistance project - Operational 'Environment' Project-2000-2006 ATAS (Technical Assistance and System Actions) NOP - that has recourse to a Task Force of experts working with the central Environmental Authority, the regional Environmental Authorities and the ARPAs (Regional Environmental Protection Agencies) of the Objective 1 Regions.