Environmental Permits

The requirement for an environmental permit for business and other operations is defined in Appendix 1 of the Environmental Protection Act (527/2014), according to which a permit is needed for activities that pose a risk of environmental pollution. The Environmental Protection Regulation (VNA 713/2014) specifies the permitted activities and defines the permit authority. In the municipality of Janakkala, the permit board acts as the environmental protection authority, while the Southern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI) acts as the state authority.

Some activities are defined under the Environmental Protection Act to be processed through either a registration or notification procedure.

The permit is applied for using the form available on the environmental administration’s website or through a free-form application. The application must be supplemented with attachments and clarifications if necessary. The processing of a properly submitted application takes an average of 3-6 months.

Permit Processing Process Image

Instructions and Forms

A fee in accordance with the tax schedule is charged for the processing of the environmental permit.

The environmental permit procedure under the Environmental Protection Act has been replaced for some sectors by a registration procedure in the environmental protection information system. Such activities include:

energy production plants
asphalt plants
distribution stations
concrete plants or concrete product factories
activities using organic solvents, when the consumption of organic solvents exceeds 10 tons per year (activities mentioned in points 5-7 of Appendix 2 of the Environmental Protection Act)

A registration notification must be submitted to the permit board at least 60 days before starting the operation, except for energy production plants (30 days). The registered activity must comply with the requirements set out in the sector-specific regulation. Some of the aforementioned activities fall under the environmental permit procedure due to their location.

A fee in accordance with the tax schedule is charged for the processing of the notification.

The general notification procedure under the Environmental Protection Act resembles the permit procedure and applies to certain activities that cause minor environmental impacts:

animal shelters
saw mills and storage areas
zoos and amusement parks
chemical storage
food and feed industry
shooting ranges, when shots do not exceed 10,000 per year and there is no shotgun shooting range in the area

The notification must be submitted to the permit board 120 days before starting the operation. Some of the aforementioned activities fall under the environmental permit procedure due to their location or the extent of the operation.

A fee in accordance with the tax schedule is charged for the processing of the notification.