The omnibus law also lowers environmental controls on rural land and sanctions on quarries

PalmaThe Omnibus Law also lowers the requirements for building facilities in rural land. The norm, which modifies more than 50 laws, mainly environmental and territorial management, excludes complementary activities of the primary sector for the transformation and direct sale of products from the same agricultural holdings from the simplified environmental assessment procedure.

Until now, Annex 2 of the norm generically included all "industrial facilities located in rural land". This wording meant that agricultural processing industries were also subjected to the environmental assessment provided for by law. The legislator's objective was to ensure that, despite being an activity inherent to rural land, agricultural processing could only be established in this territory if it met environmental requirements. With the modification introduced by the Omnibus Law, these activities are expressly excluded.

Reduction of environmental requirements

In practice, this means a reduction in the environmental requirements applicable to these types of projects. Complementary activities for the processing and direct sale of products from the same agricultural holding will no longer be subject to this environmental assessment procedure, one of the main preventive control instruments for impacts on the territory. The reform responds to the desire to simplify the administrative processing of these facilities, but at the same time reduces the scope of the environmental controls that have been applicable to them until now.

This is a particularly relevant change in a territory like the Balearic Islands, where rural land is subject to strong pressure from the proliferation of new buildings and economic activities. Environmental assessment does not necessarily prevent a project from being carried out, but it requires an analysis of its effects on the landscape, natural resources, biodiversity, and territory before it is authorized. With the reform, some agro-industrial activities will no longer go through this specific filter.

The modification does not eliminate the rest of the administrative controls — such as urban planning, sectoral, and sanitary controls — but it does restrict the scope of application of one of the environmental prevention mechanisms provided for by Balearic legislation.

A gift to the quarry sector

The reform also modifies the sanctioning regime of the Law on Mining Organization of the Balearic Islands, in the form of a gift. In this case, the change consists of the elimination of a single word - 'light' - but with relevant legal consequences.

Article 61.3 of Law 10/2014 previously stipulated that the voluntary payment of a sanction allowed for a reduction of up to 50% - or 25%, depending on the time of payment - solely in the case of minor infringements. The Omnibus Law eliminates the reference to "minor infringements" and establishes that this benefit will be applicable to "any of the infringements" regulated by the norm. A real gift if one considers the importance of sanctions in cases where quarry owners or managers fail to comply with regulations, a fact that has historically recurred.

The modification thus expands the scope of the sanction reduction mechanism. If previously only minor infringements could benefit, now serious infringements and, in principle, very serious infringements can also access it, always under the terms provided by the law itself. This represents a flexibilization of the sanctioning regime applicable to mining operations.

The potential economic effect is considerable. Minor infringements can lead to sanctions of up to 30,000 euros; serious ones, up to 300,000 euros; and very serious ones, up to one million euros. With the new wording, the voluntary payment reduction mechanism ceases to be reserved for minor infringements and can now be applied to any category of infringement, with the reductions determined by the Administration within the limits provided by the norm.

These two changes, referring to different sectors, respond to the same legislative orientation: to reduce administrative burdens and flexibilize the legal regime applicable to certain economic activities, but, in reality, it implies a reduction in environmental and territorial controls. On the one hand, the scope of prior environmental controls on certain facilities on rural land is restricted; on the other hand, the benefits associated with the voluntary payment of sanctions in the mining sector are expanded. Analyzed together, the modifications point towards a regulatory simplification that lowers some of the environmental guarantees and the control regime that had previously been provided for by Balearic legislation.