STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) [ S.L. 552.32 SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 552.32 STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) REGULATIONS 19th September, 2023 LEGAL NOTICE 215 of 2023. 1.
(1)The title of these regulations is the Streamlining Measures for Advancing the Realisation of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) Regulations. Citation and applicability.
(2)These regulations shall apply to permit-granting procedures required in order to authorise the implementation of: (
- a)projects that are part of pre-identified sections of the core network as listed in the Annex to Directive (EU) 2021/ 1187 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 on streamlining measures for advancing the realisation of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T); and (
- b)projects on the core network corridor "Scandinavian – Mediterranean", therefore effecting the ports of Valletta and Marsaxlokk in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1316/2013 and (EU) No 283/ 2014, with a total cost exceeding three hundred million euro (€300,000,000) not exclusively related to telematic applications, new technologies and innovation within the meaning of Articles 31 and 33 of Regulation (EU) No 1315/ 2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU.
(3)This regulation shall also apply to public procurements in cross-border projects falling within the scope of these regulations.
(4)These regulations transpose the provisions of Directive (EU) 2021/1187 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 on streamlining measures for advancing the realisation of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). 2.
(1)Unless otherwise stated in these regulations, the definitions prescribed in the Act shall apply. Interpretation. 1 2 STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) [ S.L. 552.32
(2)requires: Cap. 552. In these regulations, unless the context otherwise "Act" means the Development Planning Act; "authorising decision" means the decision or a set of decisions, which may be of an administrative nature, taken simultaneously or successively by the Authority, not including decisions further to appeal, that determine whether or not a project promoter is entitled to implement the project on the geographical area concerned, without prejudice to any decision taken in the context of an administrative or judicial appeal procedure; "the Authority" means the same as the meaning assigned to it in article 2 of the Act; "cross-border project" means a project covering a crossborder section between two
(2)or more Member States of the European Union; "Directive 2014/24/EU" means Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/ EC; "Directive 2014/25/EU" means Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC; "Directive (EU) 2021/1187" means Directive (EU) 2021/ 1187 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 on streamlining measures for advancing the realisation of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T); "joint authority" means an authority established by mutual agreement between Malta and one
(1)or more other Member States of the European Union to facilitate the permitgranting procedures related to cross-border projects, including joint authorities established by designated authorities where those designated authorities have been empowered by said Member States to establish joint authorities; "permit-granting procedure" means any procedure for the determination of an application, from its validation date, of an individual project falling within the scope of these regulations in order to obtain the authorising decision as required by the STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) [ S.L. 552.32 3 Authority under European Union or national law, with the exception of urban or land use planning, of procedures related to the award of public procurement contracts, and of steps undertaken at strategic level that do not refer to a specific project, such as strategic environmental assessment, public budgetary planning, as well as national or regional transport plans; "project" means a proposal for the construction, adaptation or modification of a defined section of the transport infrastructure which aims to improve the capacity, safety and efficiency of that infrastructure and of which the implementation has to be approved by means of an authorising decision; "project promoter" means the applicant for authorisation of the implementation of a project or the public authority which initiates a project; "Regulation (EU) 1315/2013" means Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU; "Regulation (EU) 2021/1153" means Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1316/2013 and (EU) No 283/ 2014. 3.
(1)The Authority, and any other authority involved in the permit-granting procedure, shall give priority to projects falling within the scope of these regulations. Priority status.
(2)National procedures for priority projects shall be applied to projects falling within the scope of these regulations, without prejudice to the objectives, requirements and time-limits of these regulations.
(3)Sub-regulations
(1)and
(2)shall be without prejudice to any budgetary decisions. 4.
(1)The Authority shall: (
- a)take all necessary measures to provide project promoters for projects falling within the scope of these regulations with easily available information about its identity; (
- b)be the point of contact for information for the Obligations of the Authority. 4 [ S.L. 552.32 STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) project promoter and for other relevant authorities involved in the procedure leading to the authorising decision for a given project; (
- c)provide the project promoter, where required to do so under national law, with the detailed outline of the project application referred to in regulation 6
(6), including information on the indicative time-limits relating to the permit-granting procedures, in accordance with the four
(4)year time-limit referred to in regulation 5
(1); (d) oversee the timeframe of the permit-granting procedure, and in particular record any extension of the timelimit referred to in regulation 5
(3); (e) if requested, provide guidance to the project promoter concerning the submission of all relevant information and documents, including all the permits, decisions and opinions which have to be obtained and provided for the authorising decision;
(2)The Authority may also provide guidance to the project promoter as to what additional information and, or documents should be delivered in the event that the notification referred to in regulation 6
(1)has been rejected.
(3)Sub-regulations
(1)and
(2)shall be without prejudice to the competence of any other authorities involved in the permitgranting procedure and to the possibility for the project promoter to contact the individual authorities for the specific permits, decisions or opinions which form part of the authorising decision. Duration of the permit-granting procedure. 5.
(1)The permit-granting procedure, including the deadlines for that procedure, shall not exceed four
(4)years from the start of the permit-granting procedure.
(2)Sub-regulation
(1)shall be without prejudice to obligations arising from international and European Union law and shall not include periods necessary to undertake appeal procedures and to seek judicial remedies before a court or tribunal, as well as any periods necessary to implement any resulting decisions or remedies.
(3)The Authority shall adopt the necessary measures to ensure that, in duly justified cases, an appropriate extension of the four
(4)year period referred to in sub-regulation
(1)may be granted. The duration of the extension shall be determined on a case-by-case basis, be duly justified and be limited to the purpose of completing the permit-granting procedure and delivering the authorising decision. When such an extension has been granted, the project promoter shall STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) [ S.L. 552.32 5 be informed of the reasons for granting it. A further extension may be granted once, under the same conditions.
(4)The Authority shall not be held responsible where the four
(4)year period referred to in sub-regulation
(1), as extended in accordance with sub-regulation
(3), is not complied with where the delay incurred is due to the project promoter. 6.
(1)The project promoter shall notify the project to the Authority or, where appropriate, to the joint authority established in accordance with regulation 7
(2). The notification of the project by the project promoter shall serve as the start of the permit-granting procedure.
(2)In order to facilitate the assessment of the maturity of the project, the Authority shall carry out the vetting of the notification to define the level of detail of information and the relevant documents which shall be provided by the project promoter when notifying a project. If the project is not mature, the notification shall be rejected by a duly justified decision not later than four
(4)months after the receipt of the notification.
(3)The Authority shall take the necessary measures to ensure that project promoters receive general information as a guide to notification, adapted, where relevant, to the mode of transport concerned, containing information about the permits, decisions and opinions that may be required for the implementation of a project.
(4)That information shall, for each permit, decision or opinion, include the following: (
- a)general information about the material scope and the level of detail of the information which is to be submitted by the project promoter; (
- b)the applicable time-limits or, if there are no such time-limits, indicative time-limits; and (
- c)details of the authorities and stakeholders normally involved in consultations linked to the different permits, decisions and opinions.
(5)That information shall be easily accessible to all relevant project promoters, in particular through electronic or physical information portals.
(6)In order to facilitate successful notification, the Authority shall establish a detailed outline of the project application upon request by the project promoter. This detailed outline shall include the following information customised for the individual Organisation of the permit-granting procedure. 6 STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) [ S.L. 552.32 project: (
- a)the individual stages of the procedure and applicable time-limits or, if there are no such time-limits, indicative time-limits; (
- b)the material scope and the level of detail of the information to be submitted by the project promoter; (
- c)a list of permits, decisions and opinions which shall be obtained by the project promoter during the permitgranting procedure, in accordance with European Union and national law; (
- d)the details of the authorities and stakeholders which shall be involved in connection with the respective obligations, including during the formal phase of the public consultation.
(7)The detailed outline of the project application shall remain valid during the permit-granting procedure. Any amendment to the detailed outline of the project application shall be duly justified.
(8)The Authority may provide the project promoter, on request, with the information supplementing the elements referred to in sub-regulation
(6).
(9)When the project promoter has submitted the complete full development application, it shall be validated by the Authority and the authorising decision shall be adopted within the time-limit referred to in regulation 5
(1).
(10)The authorities involved in the permit-granting procedure shall notify the Authority that the required permits, decisions, opinions have been issued. Coordination of cross-border permit-granting procedures. 7.
(1)For projects subject to these regulations that concern Malta and one
(1)or more other Member States of the European Union, the Authority shall cooperate with the competent authorities of those Member States with a view to coordinating their timetables and agreeing on a joint schedule concerning the permitgranting procedure.
(2)For cross-border projects subject to these regulations, a joint authority may be established.
(3)Further to the stipulations in sub-regulation
(1), the Authority shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the European Coordinators designated in accordance with Article 45 of Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 receive information on the permit- STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) [ S.L. 552.32 granting procedures, and that the European Coordinators may facilitate contacts between authorities appointed in the context of the permitgranting procedures for cross-border projects.
(4)The Authority shall, if the time-limit referred to in regulation 5
(1)is not observed, and upon their request, provide the European Coordinators concerned with information on the measures taken or planned to be taken in order to enable the permit-granting procedure to be concluded with the least possible delay. 8.
(1)When procurement procedures are conducted by a joint authority in a cross border project subject to these regulations, the Authority shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the joint authority applies the national law of one
(1)of the participating Member States of the European Union and, that law shall be determined in accordance with paragraph (a) of Article 39
(5)of Directive 2014/24/EU or paragraph (a) of Article 57
(5)of Directive 2014/25/EU, as applicable, unless an agreement between the participating Member States provides otherwise. Such an agreement shall, in any case, provide for the application of the national law of one
(1)of the participating Member States to the procurement procedures conducted by the joint authority. Procurement in cross-border projects.
(2)For procurement conducted by a subsidiary of a joint authority, the Authority shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the subsidiary applies the national law of one
(1)of the participating Member States of the European Union. The Authority may decide jointly with the competent authorities of the participating Member States that the subsidiary is to apply the national law applicable to the joint authority. 9.
(1)These regulations shall not apply to projects for which the permit-granting procedures started before 10 August 2023.
(2)Regulation 8 shall only apply to such contracts for which the call for competition has been sent, or, in cases where a call for competition is not foreseen, where the contracting authority or contracting entity commenced the procurement procedure after 10 August 2023.
(3)Regulation 8 shall not apply to a joint authority set up before 9 August 2021, if the procurement procedures of that joint authority continue to be governed by the law applicable to its procurements on that date. Transitional provisions. 7