Extensive information about this can be found at Informatiepunt Leefomgeving at www.iplo.nl, but below you can find a small summary.
The Omgevingswet summarizes the extensive Dutch regulations, housed in many different legislative and regulatory documents, on the physical living environment into one comprehensive act. This includes laws and regulations on environmental management, nature protection, spatial planning and so on. In the coming years, under the Omgevingswet, the zoning plans that municipalities currently use will have to make way for one integral environmental plan per municipality. All environmental plans will then be included in the Digital System of the Omgevingswet (DSO), so that the applicable regulations will be available at every address in the Netherlands through a single digital platform. Such an environmental plan will then not only contain the rules relating to spatial planning as they are now in the zoning plan, but an integral approach will be taken from the entire (quality of the) physical environment. This means that a future environmental plan may, for example, contain rules about making building or livestock farming more sustainable, while these rules do not belong in a current zoning plan.
The Omgevingswet is of enormous importance not only for the (local) government, but also for businesses. For example, should you have your own business, under the new Omgevingswet different actions may be required than under current law. When carrying out business activities, there will soon be a certain influence on the (immediate) living environment and it will be necessary to consider whether certain actions are required by law. Here you can think of the obligation to make a certain notification to the municipality or to apply for an environmental permit. Whereas in current law the rules for different types of permits or notifications are contained in different laws or regulations, these rules will therefore come together in the Omgevingswet from January first, 2024. When a company wants to expand, remodel or make other changes, it is wise to check (possibly with an expert) whether the Omgevingswet will affect those future plans or current situation. New plans are covered by the Omgevingswet in any case, but transitional law applies to certain things already in progress, such as instruments regulating activities and enforcement procedures.
More information about the Omgevingswet and how it works?
