Environmental Registration through General Binding Rules

GBR’s are intended to regulate small scale enterprises through a standard set of environmental conditions, related to waste management, emissions to atmosphere, effluent discharges and storage of materials and chemicals. Separate sets of GBR conditions have been drafted for each sector (or groups of sectors) that have been identified as being of environmental concern. GBR’s are also accompanied by Guidance Notes (GN’s), which are documents providing an explanation of the environmental conditions applicable to the different GBR’s.

Unless explicitly specified, enterprises of minimal environmental significance (e.g. insurance companies) are exempt from control through a GBR’s. These provisions shall not be applicable to larger scale activities, which would be required to comply with a specific environmental permit or IPPC issued by ERA.

The following table gives a comprehensive list of the GBR’s and GN’s which have been issued by the ERA for different sectors. You may wish to click on the links below to access any of the proposed GBR conditions for the different sectors. You may also consult the General Guidance Note, applicable to a number of sectors.

ERA has also published various guidance on plans and submissions to architects and operators to ensure that during the planning process which is submitted with the Planning Authority, the plans are submitted in accordance with environmental specifications. An explanation of the principle is found at Guideline on Operational Environmental Parameters with respect to Development permits.

Applications may be submitted through the ERIS System which may be accessed from here. When applying for an Environmental Registration with ERA, make sure you submit the documents requested in the application form.

Particular activities such as Hull Cleaning activities should be accompanied by Notification forms every time an activity related to this Registration is carried out.

Kindly also note that all Registrations are only valid for one/ two calendar years and need to be renewed through the appropriate forms and submissions.

Below is a list of the renewal and notification forms:

For further information or clarification regarding this matter, the public is requested to contact ERA offices on 2292 3500 on weekdays and during the following office hours: 9:00hrs till 12:00hrs and 14:00hrs till 16:00hrs or email: gbr.permits@era.org.mt