# Commission Implementing Decision of 24 September 2012 confirming measures proposed by the Netherlands for the protection of marine areas of conservation in the North Sea Coastal Zone, the Vlakte van de Raan and the Voordelta (notified under document C(2012) 6510) (Only the Danish, Dutch, English, French and German texts are authentic) (2012/638/EU), Division: General information regarding licensing procedures under the Nature Conservation Act 1998 Extent: E+W+S+N.I. Various articles in this Access Restriction Decree refer to the condition that certain activities are only allowed if licensed under the Nature Conservation Act. The following text provides further details on the processes and the requirements involved in such a licence procedure and the assessments to be made by the competent authorities. General information regarding licensing procedures under the Nature Conservation Act and area-specific information concerning Natura 2000 areas is available on the internet: www.noordzeenatura2000.nl http://www.synbiosys.alterra.nl/natura2000/default.aspx?main=gebieden Article 6.3 of the Habitats directive provides that for any plan or project not directly connected with or necessary to the management of the site but likely to have a significant effect thereon, either individually or in combination with other plans or projects, an appropriate assessment of its implications for the site should be made, taking into account the site’s conservation objectives. Taking into account the conclusions of the assessment of the impact on the site and subject to paragraph 4, the competent national authorities must not authorise the plan or project unless they have first ascertained that the natural characteristics of the site concerned will not be adversely affected. The above requirement for prior consent is implemented in Article 19d of the Dutch Nature Conservation Act 1998 in the form of a licence instrument. Article 19f of this act provides that it is the responsibility of the applicant to submit an appropriate assessment with the licence application. The Ministerial Decree regarding Licensing under the Nature Conservation Act 1998 sets out the distribution of competences regarding the issuing of licences between the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation on the one hand and the relevant provinces on the other. This decree lists various categories of activities and locations for which central government is the competent authority; all other matters fall within the competence of the relevant province. A relevant example in this regard is that the Ministry is exclusively competent for all activities in those parts of the Dutch North Sea Coastal Zone Natura 2000 site that have not been apportioned to the provinces. The initiator of a project or an activity will first of all have to enquire with the competent authority whether a licence is actually required. This can be done formally through a request for an assessment of the requirement to have a licence, or informally by telephone or e-mail or in a face-to-face meeting with representatives of the competent authority. The competent authority will reply to this enquiry, if desired in writing. If the same activity is conducted by several individuals in the same Natura site, as is the case with fishermen, who use a trade organisation to promote their interests, this organisation will be the regular point of contact for the competent authority. In most cases these organisations can also be the mandated applicant for the licence, although it is the individual enterprise or person which is the sole licensee. If the competent authority comes to the conclusion that the activity or project needs a licence, the applicant will have to make and submit an appropriate assessment of the activity. Applicants often commission an environmental consultancy to draw up such an environmental assessment. The costs of this document are borne exclusively by the applicant. To facilitate the drawing up of such an impact assessment the Ministry has published an ‘impact indicator’ on the internet: http://www.synbiosys.alterra.nl/natura2000/effectenindicator.aspx?subj=effectenmatrix In addition, the Dutch Coordination group for Natura 2000 (Regiegroep Natura 2000) has developed and published various tools to provide guidance on concepts such as that of significance. http://www.natura2000.nl/pages/gereedschap.aspx None of these information sources is available in English. Their use therefore requires a translation. In most cases a draft of the appropriate assessment will be discussed in one or more consultative meetings with the competent authority before a written application is formally submitted. An appropriate assessment deals with all (possible) effects of the activity on the applicable conservation goals of the Natura 2000 site or sites in question. It also deals with mitigating circumstances or measures, if required and in specific cases, e.g. if significant effects are concluded, with an evaluation of alternative locations, national interests and nature compensation (‘ADC-criteria’). After the formal submission of the application and its annexes the competent authority will check the completeness and correctness of the information provided. It then sends copies to various interested parties to ask their opinion on the application. Nature conservation organisation and other interested parties will have 6 weeks to voice their opinions, while provinces and relevant municipalities will have 8 weeks. In most cases the competent authority will take a decision within 13 weeks of receiving the application. This 13-week period can be extended by another 13 weeks. After a formal decision on the application has been issued, an interested party can file an objection (bezwaar) within 6 weeks. Following the decision on the objection said party can lodge an appeal with the Administrative Appeals Division of the Council of State, again within 6 weeks. The primary decision on the application includes a set of clauses and an annex setting out the competent authority’s considerations that motivate the decision. These clauses may include the requirement to have a copy of the licence on board while performing the activity, the requirement to have an operational catch registration or navigation system of a certain type, the requirement to report certain information on fishing which deviates from the licence, the obligation to fish within certain areas or the prohibition to do so in certain areas, the obligation to observe disturbance distances to areas where birds and/or seals are present, the obligation to fish with certain gear, the obligation to respect quota in certain periods or in certain areas and clauses on the validity of the licence on specific days, parts of day or in specific periods. Management plans will be published on the Ministry website. The question as to whether an activity comes under the licence or the management plan requirement should as yet be put to the competent authorities. Once the relevant management plan has been adopted the details can be found in the plan itself. --- Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2012/638/annex/I/division/1/division/2/division/19 (the official version) Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2012-638/annex-I/division-1/division-2/division-19 Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.