Insights on the Dutch Environment & Planning Act

The long-anticipated Environment & Planning Act (De Omgevingswet) has entered into force on 1 January 2024. Our DLA Piper Environmental Planning and Administrative law team has prepared a paper providing relevant insights to this new legislation.

We provide you with a high-level overview of the Environment & Planning Act, which follows a logical structure like the structure provided by the Environment & Planning Act itself. The report starts off with the General Framework, followed by the various Instruments and Enforcement and Judicial Protection. These elements form the general section, after which the chapters will discuss more specific aspects such as provisions regarding Sustainability and the Environment included within the Planning & Environment Act, applicable Transitionary Law, Land Policy and Compensation, ending with the Experimental provisions, Innovation and Digitalization.

The final section will discuss the four Environmental Decrees (Algemene Maatregelen van Bestuur) which have been provided as extensions to the Planning & Environment Act:

• Environment Buildings Decree (Besluit Bouwwerken Leefomgeving).
• Environmental Activities Decree (Besluit Activiteiten leefomgeving).
• Environmental Quality Decree (Besluit Kwaliteit leefomgeving).
• Environment (and Planning) Decree (Omgevingsbesluit).

If you would like to know more about what the impact of the Environment & Planning Act (De Omgevingswet) is on your sector and organisation, feel free to reach out to the team. We are here to help!

An overview of Dutch government information available in English on the future Dutch Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) can be found here.