SEIA applicability consultation: what it is and when to submit one

It is a request that the owner of a project, or of a modification to an existing project, submits to the SEA so that it states whether the project must undergo the SEIA. It is provided for in article 26 of the SEIA Regulation (Supreme Decree 40 of 2012) and it is voluntary: the law does not require it, but it gives a formal opinion on a decision that the owner would otherwise make alone.

The answer is based solely on the information submitted. If the project finally built differs from what was described, the opinion does not cover it, and the Superintendency of the Environment keeps its enforcement powers.

The SEA checks whether the project falls under any of the project types that Law 19,300 requires to be assessed, detailed in the SEIA Regulation with their thresholds and conditions. For a modification, it also analyses whether it is a significant change to the original project, considering, among other things, whether the modification alone or added to previous changes reaches any of those types.

That is why the answer is always case by case: two projects of the same kind can reach different conclusions depending on their scale, works, location or history of modifications.

A well-prepared consultation describes the project in enough detail for the service to give its opinion without asking for clarifications. It generally includes:

• The identification of the owner and its representative.
• The description of the project or modification: its parts, works and actions in each phase (construction, operation and closure).
• The location, with coordinates and maps, and the area it occupies.
• Relevant inputs, emissions, waste and effluents, and the estimated workforce.
• For modifications, the information on the original project and its previous changes, including any existing environmental approvals.
• A reasoned analysis of why, in the owner's view, the project must or must not enter the SEIA, reviewing each applicable project type.

The SEA has published instructions on the content and format of these consultations, and it is worth checking the current version before preparing one.

Response times vary by region, project complexity and the service's workload, and can be longer if the SEA asks for more information. It is advisable to include the consultation in the project schedule as an activity with its own time frame, and to submit it with complete information to avoid clarifications.

• When the project is close to the threshold of a project type and the conclusion depends on how its works or size are interpreted.
• When an existing project is modified, with or without an environmental approval, and it is unclear whether the change is significant.
• When a lender, investor or buyer requires formal certainty about the project's environmental status.
• When the location includes sensitive features whose relevance to the assessment should be clarified before moving forward.

On the other hand, if it is clear that the project must enter the SEIA, the consultation adds nothing: the efficient path is to prepare the environmental assessment directly.

If the opinion concludes that the project must enter the SEIA, it does so through an Environmental Impact Statement (DIA) or an Environmental Impact Study (EIA), depending on whether it generates the effects, characteristics or circumstances that the law associates with a study. In that case, the sectoral environmental permits are processed within the assessment.

If it concludes that the project need not enter, the project must still obtain the sectoral and municipal permits that apply, directly from each authority, and comply with the applicable environmental regulations. Having the opinion makes those procedures easier, because it documents the project's status.

• Describing the project incompletely or differently from what will actually be built, which leaves the answer with no practical effect.
• Leaving out associated works or activities, such as access roads, power lines, construction camps or aggregate extraction, which must also be analysed.
• For modifications, ignoring the project's previous changes, which may add up when assessing whether the change is significant.
• Submitting the consultation without the owner's own analysis of each project type, leaving the service to rebuild the reasoning.
• Submitting it late, when the response time already constrains contracts, financing or the start of works.

We analyse your project against the applicable project types, prepare the applicability consultation with its technical and mapping information, and build it into the project's permitting plan, together with engineering and construction. If the project must enter the SEIA, we coordinate the preparation of the DIA or EIA with the specialists it requires.