MINLEX - Lithuania Country Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MINLEX - Lithuania Country Report This version has been extracted from MINLEX´s Final Report MinPol and partners May – 2017 Disclaimer: The information and views set out in this study are those of the MinPol team and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein. This project has received funding from the European Commission under Contract n° SI 2.717317 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. LITHUANIA ....................................................................................................... 2 1.1. Summary of findings ................................................................................. 2 1.2. General introduction .................................................................................. 3 1.3. Legislation governing mineral exploration and extraction ................................. 4 1.4. Authorities governing mineral exploration and extraction ................................ 12 1.5. Licensing procedures for exploration............................................................ 18 1.6. Licensing procedures for extraction ............................................................. 21 1.7. Court cases on permitting procedures .......................................................... 27 1.8. Success rates of exploration and extraction permits ....................................... 46 1.9. EU legislation impacting permits and licenses for exploration and extraction ....... 47 1 MINLEX-FinalReport May 2017 1. LITHUANIA 1.1. Summary of findings In Lithuania the mining sector is relatively small, there are no ore mining or metallurgical industries, and extraction is concentrated in peat, aggregates and industrial minerals (dolomite, limestone). According to the Constitution and the Underground Law all subsurface mineral resources (energy, metals, industrial and construction minerals) are exclusively state-owned. The main law is the Underground Law No. I-1034/1995 and its implementing Government Resolutions (No. 1433/2001, No. 198/2002, No. 584/2002), which regulate the exploration and extraction permits. Other important laws regulating other necessary permits and licences for the authorisation of exploration and extraction activities include the Environment protection Law I-2223/1992, Proposed economic activity environmental impact assessment Law No. I-1495/1996 (which regulates the EIA process), Environment minister order No. 166/1996 on exploited mining areas rehabilitation, Protected Areas Law No. I-301/1993, Water Law No. VIII-474/1997, Spatial Planning Law No. I-1120/1995 and Environment minister order No. D1-145/2014, both of which regulate spatial planning (and set provisions for the extraction and reclamation plan). The competent authority granting exploration and extraction permits is the Lithuanian Geological Survey (under the sphere of the Ministry of Environment). Other relevant co-authorities include the Environmental Protection Agency in charge of approving EIAs and issuing permits for surface water use, 60 municipalities, the National Land Service, the State Territorial Planning and Construction Inspectorate (only relevant for the extraction and post-extraction phases), the Directorate General of State Forests, the State Service for Protected Areas and the Cultural Heritage Department. For exploration activities, an applicant (a qualified natural or legal person) must request a permit for investigating the subsurface, which is usually granted by the Lithuanian Geological Survey in 30 days, after which the applicant obtains the rights and may initiate prospection and exploration works. This may be delayed in the case of coordination problems with landowners and other users who, according to the Land Law No. I-446/1994, are required to allow the subsurface exploration works and must then agree with the developer on the duration, exploration area boundaries, work time and economic compensation. The developer must then prepare a report for resources approval, which is evaluated and approved by the Geological Survey; this often takes between 3 and 5 months. For extraction activities, the first permit that a developer needs to obtain is the environmental permit granted subject to the approval of an EIA by the Environmental Protection Agency. An EIA (Law No. I-1495/1996) is only required for solid mineral extraction plots which are planned to be bigger than 25 ha. Public consultation is mandatory during the EIA process and the public entities which usually participate involve municipal authorities (municipality councils have a right to veto the EIA process), public health centres, cultural heritage departments, and the interested wider public (local communities). Such participation often causes a significant slowdown of the process, especially when judicial appeals are set against decisions by the competent authority. In Lithuania not only the applicant but also any interested (or concerned) third person or party can set an appeal against the decision of a competent authority of granting a permit. A decision on the EIA study (approval or rejection) takes between 8 and 24 months. A negative decision on the EIA process prevents the possibility to obtain an extraction permit. In addition, until the decision has been made, other applicants are not allowed to plan the same activities in the same area. If the EIA process is approved, the developer asks for a permit to use the subsurface mineral resources (extraction permit), which is usually granted between 1 to 3 months. 2 MINLEX-FinalReport May 2017 Finally, in order to start the activity, the developer must prepare and get approval for a Subsurface Plan, which must be agreed upon with local municipalities and which contains a reclamation plan. This last phase lasts between 8 to 12 months. Overall, the time to obtain all approvals to start extracting is between 1 and 4 years; for valuable minerals, metal ores and monomineral quartz sand another additional year could be needed for additional procedures of the tender. In Lithuania, there are few court cases related to the NEEI sector, with an average of 2 or 3 cases per year for a small mining sector. According to statistics in the last years, the majority of the plaintiffs were the mining companies, the rest were other interested parties (e.g. the landowners, local communities). The defendants are typically the permitting authorities. According to the Lithuanian Geological Survey, most cases (ca. 80 %) are won by the defendant authority. Historically, administrative mining cases have not had significant impacts on sector legislative changes. Permitting success rates in Lithuania are generally high, having reached 80 % and 83 % for exploration and extraction permits, respectively, in the period 2013-2015. For rejected exploration permits the main reason was the legal persons not fulfilling the conditions to have qualified and trained professionals (geologists). Extraction permits were rejected because the object resources were not detailed, explored and approved in accordance with the laws, there was a lack of required coordination from the co-authority, required documents were missing or because the applicant did not pay the licensing fee. 1.2. General introduction In Lithuania, the mining sector is relatively small, there are no ore mining or metallurgical industries, and the extraction is concentrated in peat, aggregates and industrial minerals (dolomite, limestone). According to the Constitution and the Underground Law all subsurface mineral resources (energy, metals, industrial and construction minerals) in Lithuania are of exclusive state-ownership. 3 MINLEX-FinalReport May 2017 Study – Legal framework for mineral extraction and permitting procedures for exploration and exploitation in the EU 1.3. Legislation governing mineral exploration and extraction The main law is the Underground Law No. I-1034/1995 and its implementing Government Resolutions (No. 1433/2001, No. 198/2002, No. 584/2002) which regulate the exploration and extraction permits. Other important laws which regulate other necessary permits and licences for the authorisation of exploration and extraction activities encompass the Environment protection Law I-2223/1992, the Proposed economic activity environmental impact assessment Law No. I-1495/1996 (which regulates the EIA process), the Environment minister order No. 166/1996 on exploited mining areas rehabilitation, Protected Areas Law No. I-301/1993, the Water Law No. VIII-474/1997, the Spatial Planning Law No. I- 1120/1995 and the Environment minister order No. D1-145/2014, both of which regulate spatial planning (and set provisions for the extraction and reclamation plan). Table 1: Lithuania. Legislation relevant to exploration and extraction permitting. Relevant to Relevant at (Y/N) (Y/N) Legisl Permitting ative Deadlines Code English title Web link provisions Remarks secto (Y/N) (Y/N) r local extraction - national regional (central) extraction exploration post The Constitution of http://www3.lrs.lt/ state ownership of the Republic of home/Konstitucija N N N N N N N N underground resources Lithuania, 1992 /Constitution.htm https://www.e- Civil Code No. VIII- tar.lt/portal/en/leg private landowners rights N N N N N N N N 1864/2000 alAct/TAR.8A39C8 on underground resources 3848CB https://www.e- tar.lt/portal/en/leg Underground Law LT-L1 alAct/TAR.13E108 Y N Y Y Y Y