Changes Have Been Made in the Environmental Consultancy Firms Regulation

The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change announced that an amendment has been made to the Regulation on Environmental Management Services. The amendment to the regulation prepared by the General Directorate of EIA, Permit and Inspection came into force after being published in the Official Gazette.

With the regulation, environmental consultancy firms are required to obtain a Bureau Registration Certificate (BTB) issued by TMMOB Chamber of Environmental Engineers, as is the case with EIA qualification firms.

CONSULTANCY SERVICE FEES WILL BE INCREASED

According to the Ministry's statement, it was anticipated that the BTB requirement would impose an additional economic burden on environmental consultancy firms. For this reason, a change was made in the calculation of the minimum price tariff in favor of environmental consultants.

An article was added to the regulation to increase consultancy service fees.

In addition, in order for consultancy firms to collect service fees more easily, businesses are required to add their payment documents to their monthly activity reports. The regulation aimed to solve the economic problems experienced by environmental consultancy companies.

ADMINISTRATIVE FINE FOR COMPANIES THAT DO NOT REPORT CONTRADICTIONS

With the new regulation, it has become mandatory for environmental consultancy firms to write down the non-conformities and contradictions they detect in businesses in their monthly activity reports.

Companies will also need to make recommendations to the business owner or manager to eliminate non-conformities. Businesses that do not resolve the non-conformity within the specified period will be required to be reported to the provincial directorate.

Administrative fines will be imposed within the scope of Article 20 of the Environmental Law on environmental consultancy companies that do not write down the non-compliances in the activity report during the inspections, do not initiate the official application process for the elimination of the non-compliances, or do not notify the competent authority about the businesses.