List of sensitive sectors and areas

Illustrative list of sensitive sectors and areas

"A" level projects

This list applies to "greenfield" or major extension projects […] in the categories listed below.

1. Crude oil refineries (excluding undertakings manufacturing only lubricants from crude oil) and installations for the gasification and liquefaction of 500 tonnes or more of coal or bituminous shale per day.
2. Thermal power stations and other combustion installations with a heat output of 300 megawatts1) or more and nuclear power stations and other nuclear reactors, including the dismantling or decommissioning of such power stations or reactors (except research installations for the production and conversion of fissionable and fertile materials, whose maximum power does not exceed 1 kilowatt continuous thermal load).
3. Installations designed for the production, or enrichment of nuclear fuels, the reprocessing, storage or final disposal of irradiated nuclear fuels, or for the storage, disposal or processing of radioactive waste.
4. Integrated works for the initial smelting of cast-iron and steel; installations for the production of non-ferrous crude metals from ore, concentrates or secondary raw materials by metallurgical, chemical or electrolytic processes.
5. Installations for the extraction of asbestos and for the processing and transformation of asbestos and products containing asbestos: for asbestos-cement products, with an annual production of more than 20 000 tonnes finished product; for friction material, with an annual production of more than 50 tonnes finished product; and for other asbestos utilisation of more than 200 tonnes per year.
6. Integrated chemical installations, i.e. those installations for the manufacture on an industrial scale of substances using chemical conversion processes, in which several units are juxtaposed and are functionally linked to one another and which are for the production of: basic organic chemicals; basic inorganic chemicals; phosphorous-, nitrogen- or potassium-based fertilizers (simple or compound fertilizers); basic plant health products and of biocides; basic pharmaceutical products using a chemical or biological process; explosives.
7. Construction of motorways, express roads and lines for long-distance railway traffic and of airports with a basic runway length of 2 100 metres or more; construction of a new road of four or more lanes, or realignment and/or widening of an existing road so as to provide four or more lanes, where such new road, or realigned and/or widened section of road would be 10 km or more in a continuous length.
8. Pipelines, terminals, and associated facilities for the large-scale transport of gas, oil, and chemicals.
9. Sea ports and also inland waterways and ports for inland-waterway traffic which permit the passage of vessels of over 1 350 tonnes; trading ports, piers for loading and unloading connected to land and outside ports (excluding ferry piers) which can take vessels of over 1 350 tonnes.
10. Waste-processing and disposal installations for the incineration, chemical treatment or landfill of hazardous, toxic or dangerous wastes.
11. Large2) dams and other impoundments designed for the holding back or permanent storage of water.
12. Groundwater abstraction activities or artificial groundwater recharge schemes in cases where the annual volume of water to be abstracted or recharged amounts to 10 million cubic metres or more.
13. Industrial plants for the
    (a) production of pulp from timber or similar fibrous materials;
    (b) production of paper and board with a production capacity exceeding 200 air-dried metric tonnes per day.
14. Peat extraction, quarries and open-cast mining, and processing of metal ores or coal.
15. Extraction of petroleum and natural gas for commercial purposes.
16. Installations for storage of petroleum, petrochemical, or chemical products with a capacity of 200 000 tonnes or more.
17. Large-scale logging.
18. Municipal waste water treatment plants with a capacity exceeding 150 000 population equivalent.
19. Municipal solid waste-processing and disposal facilities.
20. Large-scale tourism and retail development.
21. Construction of overhead electrical power lines.
22. Large-scale land reclamation.
23. Large-scale primary agriculture/silviculture involving intensification or conversion of natural habitats.
24. Plants for the tanning of hides and skins where the treatment capacity exceeds 12 tons of finished products per day.
25. Installations for the intensive rearing of poultry or pigs with more than: 40 000 places for poultry; 2 000 places for production pigs (over 30 kg); or 750 places for sows.
26. Projects which are planned to be carried out in sensitive locations or are likely to have a perceptible impact on such locations, even if the project category does not appear in the above list. Such sensitive locations include National Parks and other protected areas identified by national or international law, and other sensitive locations of international, national or regional importance, such as wetlands, forests with high biodiversity value, areas of archaeological or cultural significance, and areas of importance for indigenous peoples or other vulnerable groups.