12-06-2013. Source: EU Neighbourhood Info Centre

An EU-funded Twinning project, aiming to advance the establishment in Israel of a system of integrated environmental licensing for industry, was officially launched yesterday in Jaffa Port. A new Israeli law, to be based on the European Union directive on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) would streamline existing permits into one integrated permit, thus creating one unified and simplified approval procedure. The 18-month project is funded by the European Union with a budget of €900,000 euros.

A “green license” would serve as a one-stop shop; it would remove obstacles such as bureaucratic and cumbersome licensing procedures, lack of centralized information, and inadequate government support, while providing certainty to the drivers of change in the industrial sector, facilitating high environmental performance and serving as a green track to innovation.

The Twinning project will be implemented jointly by the Israeli and German environment ministries. In the framework of the project the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), together with other German administrations, will guide Israel through the process of creating such a system, of passing a Green Licensing Law, and improving environmental reporting systems.