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MASE clarifications on EIA and PAUR in Italy: what's new?

published on 10 November 2025 | reading time approx. 4 minutes

With formal response no. 191749 of 16 October 2025, the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica - “MASE”) clarified how to identify of the Competent Authority in the Environmental Impact Assessment (Valutazione d'Impatto Ambientale - “EIA”) and in the Single Regional Authorisation Procedure (Provvedimento Autorizzatorio Unico Regionale - “PAUR”) proceedings pursuant to Article 27-bis of the Italian Environmental Consolidated Act under the Italian Legislative Decree 152/2006 (Testo Unico Ambiente – “TUA”), following a request submitted by the Province of Pavia.

The question specifically addresses cases in which the project falls within a single EIA verification threshold, or cases where the project is “above threshold” for screening, but “below threshold” for a full EIA.

This complexity arises as a result of the Italian Renewable Energy Consolidated Act under the Italian Legislative Decree 190/2024 (Testo Unico sulle Energie Rinnovabili), which has updated Annex IV of the Italian Environmental Consolidated Act with the introduction of the new categories d-bis, d-ter and d-quater. In particular:

Annex II of the TUA assigns MASE responsibility for national EIA for photovoltaic plants with a capacity exceeding 10 MW;
Annex IV of the TUA entrusts the Regions with the EIA screening (EIA screening (applicability check)) for agrivoltaic plants with a capacity equal to or greater than 12 MW or photovoltaic plants with a capacity equal to or greater than 12 MW if located in suitable areas.

In summary, there is an overlap of competences for photovoltaic plants with a capacity between 10 and 12 MW, which may fall under either state (MASE) or regional jurisdiction for EIA screening.

The two operational cases brought to the attention of MASE

The Ministerial formal response identifies two specific cases:

a project that falls within a category for which only the threshold for EIA screening is required (e.g. agrivoltaic plants < 12 MW) and, despite this, the proponent wishes to submit an EIA/PAUR application;
a project that falls within a category of works for which there is a threshold for EIA applicability and a threshold for EIA, but with different competent authorities (e.g. regional and state verification).

MASE's clarifications on procedures in terms of administrative principles and procedures to be followed.

Firstly, MASE points out that the Italian Environmental Consolidated Act establishes a clear distinction between the verification procedure for EIA applicability and the EIA procedure.

It is well known, the EIA applicability verification is a preliminary procedure carried out to assess whether a project may have a significant and negative environmental impact and, if so, whether it should be subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment.

The EIA procedure, on the other hand, is carried out for types of projects that are considered a priori to have significant and negative environmental impacts and is a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of a given project.

As also clarified by case law, the conditions for carrying out the compatibility procedures are objective and depend exclusively on whether or not a certain project falls within the types included in the annexes to Part II of Italian Environmental Consolidated Act.

What happens in the case of a voluntary EIA application?

The MASE has specified that, since the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure is initiated at the request of the proponent, the latter may independently consider that its project has significant and negative impacts on the environment and, consequently, choose to submit it directly to EIA. In this case, the competent authority is the one where the screening procedure would have been initiated based on the type of project.

The case of overlapping competences

In the event that a project falls into both a screening category and an EIA category, thus assigning competence to different bodies (e.g. MASE and Regions), the proponent may still choose to submit the project directly to the EIA procedure, in line with the reasons already expressed for the previous cases. Also in this situation, the competent authority will be the one responsible for managing the screening process, identified on the basis of the type of project.

Considerations

The MASE formal response clarifies that:

even for projects “below the EIA threshold”, the proponent may initiate the EIA procedure by addressing the application to the authority responsible for the screening test;
in the presence of differentiated thresholds and dual competence, the choice of the Competent Authority always follows the type of project and the competence identified for the screening.

The MASE formal response of 16 October 2025 represents the first concrete attempt to offer a single operational criterion for identifying the competent authority for EIA/PAUR procedures in the field of renewable energy, especially for categories of plants subject to regulatory overlap between the State and the Regions.

Pending the next regulatory amendment, this interpretation currently constitutes the main guide for operators and administrations.

The path towards clear and stable regulations is still evolving: only a comprehensive reform, expected with the amendment to the Italian Renewable Energy Consolidated Act scheduled for 2026, will truly prevent conflicts and uncertainties, ensuring certainty for future investments in the renewable energy sector.