The new Water Law, in addition to the principles of water management, also changes other key regulations regarding environmental protection. The new regulations narrow the number of parties to proceedings for issuing decisions on environmental conditions and limit the share of hitherto authorized entities.
Regardless of the new principles of water management, the Act also introduces changes to other legal acts, including the Act on access to information about the environment and its protection, public participation in environmental protection and environmental impact assessments (hereinafter: “U.o.o.ś.”). Most of the changes are adaptive, but the key provisions are also amended, which have no direct relationship with the Water Law, meaning significant changes in the procedure for issuing a decision on environmental conditions, which, like most provisions of the new Water Law, will come into force on January 1, 2018.