Questions and answers

Question:

What information should I provide related to ‘nature and scope of activity’ for the notification?

Answer:

For the notification, you must provide a number of data. One of the data you have to provide is about “the nature and scope” of the activities within your business. This means that you describe what activities and possibly processes take place within your business.

This can be about:

• the working hours and number of employees who carry out activity(s) within your company
• a description of the activities of an activity. For example, when repairing vehicles, this can be about: testing motors, spraying, tectyling or in metal working on sawing, welding and assembly
• the sound level of, for example, machines, music
• what and how many gas bottles are present in your business and where and how they are stored
• what hazardous substances are present in your business and how and where they are stored
• which waste water discharge takes place in addition to the discharge of household wastewater, such as discharges from a washing area for vehicles, a petrol station, fatty waste water from preparing food in a restaurant.

If you notify a change of your business, it should be clear to which parts of the business the change relates.

The information about which activities take place within your company is necessary for the competent authority to understand the expected effects of the activity on the environment.

Question:

What changes do you need to notify to the competent authority, and what changes are not necessary to notify?

Answer:

If you are going to change or expand your business, or if you are going to quit your business, you must report this to the competent authority.

For example, a change in your business is:

• you start your business or start a new activity
• you change production capacity or operating times

There is one major exception: if you have already made a notification and the change does not cause any deviation from your company’s previously reported data, you do not need to make a new notification.