Portugal commits to develop and implement the Single Environmental Permit (SEP) which establishes a set of requirements aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of environmental procedures.The SEP highlights: articulation procedures, allowing them to run simultaneously, based on a single application; information management that benefits transparency and uniformity, in the definition of the requirements, avoiding duplication of the procedures. The SEP includes a solution for the management of procedures using a dynamic simulator and form. The simulator informs the operator of which environmental permits are applied, of the licensing entity, of the deadline for obtaining the license and of the respective fee. The dynamic forms are presented to the operator according to the frameworks applied and contain all the information which is needed by the permitting authority to issue the permit. At the end of the process, a single permit is issued, which contains all the specific decisions (under the several environmental specific regimes) and all the conditions that need to be fulfilled by the installation before its expiry. The main benefits of the SEP are a simplification, harmonisation and coordination of all environmental permits, which are supported by the concept: one process, one title, one fee.
The commitment falls under focus area 8 of the Batumi Initiative to improve access to services, healthy living and well-being.
Implementing partners will include all competent authorities involved in the economic and environmental permits.
The commitment is relevant to the SDGs 8, 9, and 11.