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ARTICLE · 06 NOVEMBER 2025

Municipalities And Provinces No Longer Authorised To Make Decisions Regarding Their Own Projects That Require An Environmental Impact Assessment Screening

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The Constitutional Court has now annulled that regulation in its judgment of 18 September 2025 (no. 122/2025).

BelgiumEnvironment
Mina Boel
Mina Boel

In 2024, the Flemish legislature introduced a regulation allowing a municipal executive or provincial executive to take decisions of its own accord in relation to projects for which the executive itself was both the originator and the applicant, on condition that the projects concerned solely required an environmental impact assessment screening. The Constitutional Court has now annulled that regulation in its judgment of 18 September 2025 (no. 122/2025).

This judgment forms the latest episode in a legal saga that has been ongoing since 2022. The discussion originally began following the so-called 'Laundry ruling' (Dutch: 'Wasserij-arrest') issued by the Council for Permit Disputes on 6 October 2022. Cassation proceedings against that ruling were then initiated before the Council of State and the Council of State, in its turn, requested a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice. The key question: is a municipal executive or provincial executive allowed

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