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19 AVRIL 2014. - Act enacting the Agreement on Cooperation of 27 February 2014 between the Federal State, the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region on the Establishment of a Coordinating and Facilitation Committee for the Granting of Authorities for Trans-European Energy Infrastructure Projects, pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 (1)

PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. Assent is given to the Agreement of Cooperation of 27 February 2014 between the Federal State, the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region on the establishment of a Coordinating and Facilitation Committee for the granting of authorizations for projects of trans-European energy infrastructure, pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 347/2013.
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 19 April 2014.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
Minister of the North Sea,
J. VANDE LANOTTE
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Equal Opportunities,
Ms. J. MILQUET
The Secretary of State for Energy,
Mr. WATHELET
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. A. TURTELBOOM
____
Note
House of Representatives:
(www.lachambre.be)
Documents: 53-3482 - 2013/2014.
Full report: 27 March 2014.
Senate:
(www.senate.be)
Documents: 5-2823 - 2013/2014.
Annales of the Senate: April 3, 2014.
Cooperation agreement between the Federal State, the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region on the establishment of a coordination and facilitation committee for the granting of authorizations for projects of trans-European energy infrastructure, pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 347/2013
Considering Regulation (EU) No. 347/2013 of the European Parliament and Council of 17 April 2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure, repealing Decision No. 1364/2006/EC and amending Regulation (EC) No. 713/2009, (EC) No. 714/2009 and (EC) No. 715/2009;
In view of the Constitution, articles 134, 135 and 136;
Considering the special law of institutional reforms of 8 August 1980, Article 92bis, § 1^erinserted by the law of 8 August 1988 and amended by the special law of 16 July 1993;
Having regard to the decision of the Committee for Consultation of 6 November 2013;
Considering that it is desirable, in view of the simplification and acceleration of the authorization procedures for energy projects of national and European interest and in accordance with the objectives of the provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 347/2013, to achieve better coordination and exchange of information between the authorities granting authorizations and harmonization of procedures at the federal and regional levels;
Considering that the implementation of the provisions contained in Chapter III of Regulation (EU) No. 347/2013 concerns matters within the competence of both the federal State and the Regions;
Considering that, in order to address these challenges, it is necessary that the federal State and the Regions enter into a cooperation agreement with a view to establishing a coordination and facilitation committee for the granting of authorizations for energy projects;
Considering that the collaborative approach taken in Article 8, paragraph 3, (c) of Regulation (EU) No. 347/2013 is the only scheme compatible with the Belgian constitutional and institutional framework;
Considering that this cooperation does not prejudice the autonomy of the federal State and the Regions as part of their respective licensing procedures;
Considering that the application of general principles and legislation relating to civil liability is not affected by this Agreement;
Considering that federal and regional publicity legislation and exceptions to the public availability of environmental information in the context of public environmental information are not affected by this Agreement;
The Federal State, represented by the Federal Government, in the person of the Minister having the Midway Marin in his powers and the Secretary of State having the Energy and the Environment in his powers;
The Flemish Region, represented by the Flemish Government, in the person of its Minister-President and ministers who have the Energy, the Environment and the Land Development in their responsibilities;
The Walloon Region, represented by the Walloon Government, in the person of ministers who have intra-Belgium relations, the Energy, the Environment and the Land Development in their responsibilities;
The Brussels-Capital Region, represented by the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, in the person of the ministers who have the Energy, the Environment and the Planning of the Territory in their duties;
The following:
CHAPTER 1^er. - Basic principles
Article 1^er. This cooperation agreement regulates cooperation between the federal State and the Regions (hereinafter referred to as "the parties") with a view to the coordination and harmonization of their respective procedures for the granting of authorizations, as referred to in chapter III of Regulation (EU) No. 347/2013.
Art. 2. § 1^er. This cooperation takes place within the framework of a structure called "Coordination and Facilitation Committee for the granting of authorizations".
The Coordinating and Facilitation Committee for the granting of authorizations shall assume the role of the competent national authority referred to in Article 8, paragraph 1^erRegulation (EU) No. 347/2013.
§ 2. The missions of the Coordination and Facilitation Committee for the granting of authorizations are as follows:
1° the coordination of authorisation procedures for projects referred to in Article 2.3, Regulation (EU) No 347/2013; and
2° the monitoring of the timely and correct implementation of the provisions of the regulations.
Art. 3. For the purposes of this cooperation agreement, it is necessary to hear by:
1° `Regulation': Regulation (EU) No. 347/2013 of the European Parliament and Council of 17 April 2013 concerning guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure, and repealing Decision No. 1364/2006/EC and amending Regulations (EC) No. 713/2009, (EC) No. 714/2009 and (EC) No. 715/2009;
2° `Global decision': all decisions taken by the federal and regional authorities -with the exception of courts and tribunals - which determines whether or not the proponent of a project may be granted permission to construct the energy infrastructure to carry out a project, without prejudice to any decision taken in the context of an administrative appeal procedure;
3° 'project': one or more lines, pipelines, pipelines, facilities or equipment that, in accordance with the procedure set out in the second chapter of the Regulation, have been included in the list of the Union resuming projects of common interest;
4° 'Promote projects' :
(a) a transport network manager, a distribution network manager or any other manager or investor who develops a project defined in section 3, 3°; or
(b) in the case of several transport network managers, distribution network managers, other managers, other investors, or groups of these categories, the entity with legal personality under applicable national law, designated under a contractual arrangement between these parties and having the capacity to contract legal obligations and to assume financial liability on behalf of the parties to the contractual arrangement;
5° `authorization': any permit, declaration or authorization that determines whether a project proponent may have the authorization for the construction of the energy infrastructure related to a project, namely, that relating to the environment, land development, the declaration of the project as a common interest and the allocation of access to public and private land.
Art. 4. § 1^er. The regulations adopted in this cooperation agreement shall apply to the projects referred to in Article 3, 3° carrying out Chapter III of the Regulation.
§ 2. With respect to projects for which the project proponent filed, as part of the authorization procedure, an application file before November 16, 2013, the provisions of this cooperation agreement are not applicable.
§ 3. Pursuant to Article 5, paragraph 9, second paragraph, a project that is no longer included in the list of the Union, in accordance with Article 3 of the Regulation, but for which an application file has been accepted for consideration by the Coordinating and Facilitation Committee for the granting of authorizations retains the rights and obligations arising from Chapter III of the Regulation, except where the draft is no longer listed on the grounds set out in Article 5,
CHAPTER 2. - The structure of the Coordination and Facilitation Committee for the granting of authorizations
Section 1^re. - General
Art. 5. The Coordination and Facilitation Committee for Authorization is composed of a coordinating body, monitoring bodies and a secretariat.
Section 2. - The coordinating body
Sub-section 1^re. - Missions
Art. 6. The missions of the coordinating body are:
1° to monitor the general functioning of the Coordination and Facilitation Committee for the granting of authorizations and to ensure the effective processing of procedures for the granting of authorizations;
2° discuss and approve the budget and other costs referred to in Article 22.
3° coordinating the implementation of the provisions of Chapter III of the Regulation;
4° to develop, publish and, if necessary, update the manual, as provided for in Article 9, paragraph 1^erthe regulations;
5° accept or, if it is of the opinion that the project is not mature enough to initiate the authorization process, reject the notification of a project, in written form, in accordance with Article 10, paragraph 1^er(a), by-law within three months of receipt of written notification.
The date of the signing of the acceptance of the notification by the coordinating body is the starting date of the authorization process, as defined in Article 10, paragraph 1^er(a) of the rules. When two or more Member States are concerned, the date of acceptance of the last notification of the competent authority, as set out in Article 10, paragraph 1^er, (a), of the regulations, serves as the start date of the authorization process;
6° create, without delay, and determine the composition of a specific monitoring body for the project, if the coordinating body decides to confirm a written notification, in accordance with Article 6, 5°;
7° monitor the proper functioning of the monitoring bodies;
8° to coordinate the defence when a court is seized of a dispute which is the subject of a challenge to the decisions of the coordination and facilitation committee for the granting of authorizations;
9° communicate to the competent authority of the Member State concerned, in accordance with Article 9, paragraph 6, of the Regulation, when it wishes to participate in the procedures of public consultation that will likely have significant cross-border effects on Belgian territory, Article 7 of Directive 2011/92/EU of 13 December 2011 concerning the assessment of the impact of certain public and private projects on the transboundary environment and the Espoo Convention on the Evaluation of the Environment
10° to exchange, at the request of one of the representatives, information on the process of granting authorizations of other energy-related infrastructure projects, both networks and production units, as defined in Article 3, 3°;
11° to exchange information within the body on changes to the respective framework for granting authorizations and exchanging good practices;
12° make proposals and advice to the competent ministers, on their own initiative or at their request;
13° to make proposals or advice to the federal or regional governments, on their own initiative or at their request, in order to mutually grant their policy on granting authorizations to energy projects.
Sub-section 2. - Composition
Art. 7. § 1^er. The coordinating body consists of three representatives entitled to vote for the federal state and three representatives entitled to vote by Region.
§ 2 Each of the representatives has an alternate.
This alternate replaces the representative when the representative is prevented.
§ 3. Representatives and alternates shall be appointed for a term of up to eight years.
Representatives and alternates may exercise several successive mandates.
§ 4 Representatives and alternates shall be appointed as follows:
1° Representatives and alternates of the federal state are appointed by the federal minister with the Energy in his or her duties, the federal minister with the Protection of the Marine Environment in his or her powers and the federal minister with the Environment in his or her powers;
2° Representatives and alternates of the Flemish Region shall be appointed respectively by the Flemish Government;
3° Representatives and alternates of the Walloon Region are appointed by the Walloon Government;
4° Representatives and alternates of the Brussels-Capital Region are appointed by the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region.
§ 5. The coordinating body may, on an ad hoc basis, invite project sponsors or other stakeholders to collect their non-binding opinions.
Art. 8. § 1^er. The coordinating body is alternately chaired by a representative of the Federal State and a representative of the Regions.
The Presidency is alternately provided as follows:
1. a representative of the federal state;
2. a representative of the Walloon Region;
3. a representative of the Flemish Region;
4. a representative of the Brussels-Capital Region.
However, an authority may waive the mandate of the president entrusted to it. She informs the members of the coordinating body, at least 6 months before the beginning of the relevant presidency.
The Presidency has effect for a period of 24 months from 1^er January to December 31.
As an exception, the first Presidency will begin on the date of the coming into force of this Cooperation Agreement and will be held until 31 December of the following calendar year.
§ 2. The President ' s missions are as follows:
1° determine the place, day, time and agenda of the sessions;
2° to open and close the sessions;
3° directing the debates;
4°, if applicable, delegate administrative tasks to the secretariat.
Subsection 3. - Operation
Art. 9. § 1^er. The coordinating body shall meet at the request of the President or one of its members.
§ 2. The secretariat attends meetings, as part of its tasks referred to in Article 20.
Art. 10. Each member of the coordinating body has one voice. In the event of an incapacity, each member may, after informing the President, delegate his or her right to vote to another member or alternate member. However, no member can have more than three votes.
The delegation of the right to vote only applies to the meeting for which it was granted.
Art. 11. A valid deliberation can only take place when, at least two thirds of the representatives of the federal State and each region are present or represented by delegation.
The decisions of the coordinating body are taken unanimously.
If unanimity cannot be reached, the minutes resume the points which are the subject of a discrepancy.
In the event of a persistent discrepancy, the case is submitted to the Consultation Committee.
If an agreement is reached within the Committee for Consultation, this agreement will be formally ratified at the next meeting of the coordinating body.
Art. 12. At its first meeting, the coordinating body establishes a rules of procedure for all bodies of the structure of the coordination and facilitation committee for the granting of authorizations, which determines, inter alia, the following:
1° the place of meetings;
2° the modalities for convening meetings;
3° the rules for the agenda of the issues to be discussed;
4° the basic rules for the operation and direction of the coordinating body and monitoring bodies;
5° the conditions at which additional meetings of the coordinating body and follow-up bodies may be convened;
6° the modalities for the written notification of decisions of the bodies of the coordination and facilitation committee for the granting of authorizations for energy projects.
Section 3. - Monitoring bodies
Sub-section 1^re. - Missions
Art. 13. The missions of each monitoring body are:
1° to determine, in accordance with Article 10, paragraph 4, (a), of the Regulations and on the basis of a proposal by the project proponent, the content and level of detail of the information to be submitted by the project proponent in its application file, with a view to obtaining the overall decision.
A written notification of this decision is immediately communicated to the project proponent;
2° to determine, in close cooperation with the project proponent, and taking into account Article 10, paragraph 4, (b) of the Regulations, a detailed schedule for the environmental impact reporting process and the authorization procedure. Without prejudice to the time limits determined in accordance with section 10 of the Regulations, this schedule sets reasonable time limits in which individual authorizations must be granted.
A written notification of this decision is immediately communicated to the project proponent.
An authority granting authorizations may opt to declare a file admissible only on the date fixed in the schedule when, as part of the processing of a file, it requires the results of an authorization issued by another authority granting authorizations;
3° monitor compliance by the authorities granting the authorizations.
When an authorization authority considers that it will not be able to grant an individual authorization within the prescribed time limit, it shall promptly inform the monitoring body and justify the delay. Subsequently, the follow-up body sets a new timeframe within which this individual authorization is issued, while continuing to meet the general deadlines set out in section 10 of the regulations.
A written notification of this decision is immediately communicated to the project proponent;
4° pursuant to Article 10, paragraph 2, of the Regulation, the follow-up body may decide before the expiry of the time limits referred to in Article 10, paragraph 1^er, by-law, to extend one or two time limits set out in the by-law, where the by-law considers that one or both procedures of the authorization process cannot be finalized before such time limits are expired.
In this case, the Committee requests the secretariat to inform the relevant regional group, as referred to in Article 3, paragraph 1^er and communicate to it the measures taken or to take to finalize the authorization process with the least possible delay.
In addition, a written notification of this decision is immediately communicated to the project proponent;
5° pursuant to Article 7, paragraph 8, of the Regulations, in the event that the Commission's notice is required in accordance with Directive 92/43/EEC, the follow-up body shall ensure that the decision on compelling reasons of great public interest regarding the project is taken within the time limit set out in Article 10, paragraph 1^erthe regulations;
6° request the amendment of the public participation project or accept it within three months, in accordance with section 9, paragraph 3, of the regulations. In this regard, the follow-up body shall take into account any form of public participation or consultation that took place prior to the commencement of the authorization process, to the extent that such participation and public consultation have met the requirements of section 9, paragraph 3, of the regulations.
The monitoring body may request amendments to the public participation project when the project proponent informed the monitoring body that it intends to make significant changes to an approved concept;
7° make available to the competent authorities of the neighbouring Member States, in accordance with Article 9, paragraph 6, of the Regulation, the relevant information for projects that may have significant negative impacts in one or more neighbouring Member States, where Article 7 of Directive 2011/92/EU of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the impact of certain public and private projects on the environment and the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context apply;
8° if necessary, ask the project proponent, pursuant to Article 10, paragraph 4, (c), of the Regulations, to provide missing information in the draft application file. Within three months of the transmission of missing information, the monitoring body agrees to review the application.
A written notification of this decision is immediately communicated to the project proponent;
9° coordinate individual authorizations within the overall decision. A written notification of this decision is immediately communicated to the project proponent;
10° to exchange information on current administrative and judicial remedies.
Sub-section 2. - Composition
Art. 14. § 1^er. The composition of the monitoring body is determined by the coordinating body, in accordance with Article 6, 6°. However, the representation of the regional authorities granting the authorizations is limited to that in the territory of which the project is carried out.
In addition, the number of voting members is limited to a maximum of three for the federal state and to a maximum of three for the represented Region.
§ 2. Each member has an alternate, designated by the coordinating body.
This alternate replaces the representative when the representative is prevented.
§ 3. The monitoring body may invite, on an ad hoc basis, project sponsors or other stakeholders to collect their non-binding opinions.
Art. 15. § 1^er. The chair of the follow-up body is as follows:
1° by an authority granting permissions from the Flemish Region when the project is located in Flemish territory;
2° by an authority granting permissions from the Walloon Region when the project is located in Walloon territory;
3° by an authority granting permissions from the Brussels-Capital Region when the project is located in the territory of the Brussels-Capital Region;
4° by an authority granting authorizations from the federal state when the project crosses the territory of several regions or is located in the marine areas of Belgian jurisdiction.
§ 2. The President ' s missions are as follows:
1° determine the place, day, time and agenda of the sessions;
2° to open and close the sessions;
3° directing the debates;
4°, if applicable, delegate administrative tasks to the secretariat.
Subsection 3. - Operation
Art. 16. § 1^er. Each follow-up body meets at the request of either the president or a member of the follow-up body.
§ 2. The secretariat attends meetings, as part of its tasks referred to in Article 20.
Art. 17. Each member of the voting follow-up body has one vote. In the event of an impediment, each member entitled to vote may, after informing the President, delegate his or her right to vote to another member or alternate member. However, no member can have more than three votes.
The delegation of the right to vote only applies to the meeting for which it was granted.
Art. 18. A valid deliberation may only take place when, at least, one third of the representatives entitled to vote by the federal State and each region represented and at least half of all representatives entitled to vote are present or represented by delegation.
The decisions of the follow-up bodies are taken unanimously.
If unanimity cannot be reached, the minutes resume the points which are the subject of a discrepancy.
Disagreement is reported to the coordinating body.
If an agreement is reached within the coordinating body, this agreement will be formally ratified at the next meeting of the monitoring body.
Art. 19. Each monitoring body remains active until all administrative appeals deadlines are expired or all administrative appeal procedures are finalized and all authorizations are finalised and coordinated in the overall decision, unless the coordinating body decides to no longer deal with the draft in the context of this cooperation agreement, without prejudice to the provisions under Article 4, § 3.
When all the above procedures are finalized, the follow-up body will be dissolved.
The Chair of the follow-up body informs the Chair of the coordinating body.
Section 4. - The Secretariat
Art. 20. The missions of the secretariat are:
1° provide support to the operation:
(a) the coordinating body;
(b) Monitoring bodies.
This support includes, inter alia, the sending of invitations, the agenda and the necessary documents; the preparation of meeting records and the maintenance of archives;
2° exercise, within the framework of this cooperation agreement and in accordance with the provisions of the regulation, the function of a window to:
(a) Project proponents, in accordance with section 8, paragraph 2 (b), of the Regulations;
(b) the relevant Regional Group, in accordance with Article 5, paragraph 6, of the Regulations;
(c) other Member States, in accordance with Article 8, paragraph 5, Article 9, paragraph 6 and Article 10, paragraph 4, (b), of the Regulations;
(d) the relevant European Coordinators, in accordance with Article 6 of the Regulation;
(e) the European Commission;
(f) other parties involved;
3° transmit the documents received in the context of the window function to the authorities granting relevant authorizations;
4° to open a website, in accordance with the provisions of Article 9, paragraph 7, of the Regulations, in particular to publish and regularly update the relevant information on projects under this cooperation agreement.
Project proponents provide relevant information to the secretariat.
Art. 21. The Energy Branch of the Federal Public Service Economy, P.M.E., Average Classes and Energy provides the secretariat.
Art. 22. § 1^er. The operating costs of the secretariat are, for half, dependent on the federal state.
The other half of the operating costs is distributed among the Regions as follows.
1. 60% for the Flemish Region;
2. 30% for the Walloon Region;
3. 10% for the Brussels-Capital Region.
The secretariat shall prepare the annual operating costs budget and submit it for approval to the coordinating body.
§ 2. Other costs, which relate to all parts of this collaborative agreement, if any, are equally distributed among all parties.
§ 3. The other costs, which relate only to a few parts of this collaborative agreement, if any, are apportioned proportionally among the parties concerned.
CHAPTER 3. - Final provisions
Art. 23. The agreement is issued to the Belgian Monitor at the same time as the various acts of assent by the Federal Public Service Chancellery of the Prime Minister, at the request of the party whose legislator, lastly, gave its consent to the agreement.
Art. 24. This cooperation agreement shall be concluded for an indefinite period.
The denunciation of this agreement must take into account a one-year denunciation period, which begins on the day the party that has denounced it has notified the other parties of its intention.
The signatory parties are already committed to negotiating the amendments to the agreement during the reporting period.
When a record has been accepted and has been notified in writing by the coordinating body, in accordance with Article 6, 4°, before and during the denunciation period, the authorization procedure shall continue its course in accordance with the provisions set out in this Agreement.
Art. 25. Without prejudice to the provisions applicable to publicity of administration, confidentiality, integrity and protection of commercially sensitive information received under this cooperation agreement are provided by the Coordinating and Facilitation Committee for the granting of authorizations for energy projects and its members.
Made in Brussels, 27 February 2014, in four original (Dutch and/or French) copies
For the federal state:
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Consumers and the North Sea,
J. VANDE LANOTTE
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Energy and Mobility, Deputy Minister of the Interior and Equal Opportunities, and Secretary of State for Institutional Reforms, Deputy Prime Minister,
Mr. WATHELET
For the Flemish region:
The Minister-President of the Flemish Government,
K. PEETERS
Minister of Energy, Habitation, Cities and Social Economy,
Ms. F. VAN DEN BOSSCHE
Minister of Environment, Nature and Culture,
Ms. J. SCHAUVLIEGE
Minister of Finance, Budget, Labour, Land Planning and Sports,
Ph. MUYTERS
For the Walloon Region:
Minister-President of the Walloon Government,
R. DEMOTTE
Vice-President and Minister of Sustainable Development, Public Service, Energy, Housing and Research,
J.-M. NOLLET
Minister of Environment, Land and Mobility,
Ph. HENRY
For the Brussels-Capital Region:
The Minister-President of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for the Local Authorities, the Planning of the Territory, the Monuments and Sites, the Public Cleanliness), the Development Cooperation and the Regional Statistics,
R. VERVOORT
The Minister of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for the Environment, Energy and the Water Policy, Urban Renovation, Incensing and Emergency Medical Aid and Housing,
Ms. E. HUYTEBROECK