MoEF&CC issued the Draft Notification related to the Exemption of certain categories of industries/activities from prior consent

The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) on July 19, 2024, issued the Draft Notification related to the Exemption of certain categories of industries/activities from prior consent.

The following has been stated:

• All industries/activities categorised as ‘White’ by CPCB shall be exempted from the mandatory condition of obtaining CTE and CTO from SPCBs/PCCs under Section 21 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, subject to the following conditions:

o These units will have to intimate about their operation to SPCBs / PCCs in the form of a self-declaration, complying with all the prevalent rules and regulations. They are not required to pay any consent fee.

o SPCBs/PCCs shall maintain a list of such industries/ activities separately, which shall be updated from time to time.

o SPCBs/PCCs shall ensure that no activities other than those intimated, are carried out by such exempted units.

• The projects/activities requiring prior EC as per the Environmental Impact Assessment notification, 2006 (as amended from time to time) under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 shall be exempted from obtaining CTE separately, subject to the following conditions:

o They have obtained necessary EC from the competent authority under the notification referred above.

o The CTE in all such cases shall be deemed to have been integrated with EC

Any objection or suggestion on the proposals contained in the draft notification may do so in writing within 60 days through the post to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, JorBagh Road, Aliganj, New Delhi-110003 or electronically at email address: mishra.vp@gov.in or prasoon.tripathi76@gov.in.

[Notification No G.S.R. 421(E)]