Immission control - applying for a preliminary decision on a plant requiring authorisation in accordance with the BImSchG
If you apply for a preliminary decision on an immission control permit for the construction and operation of an installation requiring a permit, the competent authority will first decide on individual authorisation requirements and the location of the installation.
If the effects of the planned installation can be adequately assessed and there is a legitimate interest in issuing a preliminary decision, the competent authority should issue a preliminary decision.
If individual authorisation requirements have been conclusively assessed in the preliminary decision, the approval authority is bound by this in the subsequent approval procedure. However, the preliminary decision does not authorise you to construct or operate the plant. This is only possible once the immission control licence has been issued.
Forms/Online Services
Responsible authority
The responsibilities in the area of immission control are regulated in the Immission Control Competence Ordinance of the state of Baden-Württemberg.
In most cases, the competent authority for installations requiring immission control authorisation is the local lower immission control authority:
- the district office, if the premises with the plant are located in a district,
- the municipal administration, if the premises with the installation are located in an urban district.
A different responsibility applies in the following cases (among others, for companies that are subject to the European Industrial Emissions Directive, the Hazardous Incident Ordinance or mining law):
Departments 5 - Environment of the respective locally responsible regional councils are the competent immission control authorities for company premises on which:
- at least one installation that is labelled with the letter E in column d of Annex 1 of the Ordinance on Installations Requiring a Permit,
- at least one operating area in accordance with Section 3 (5a) of the Federal Immission Control Act (hazardous incident operation),
- at least one installation that requires a licence pursuant to Section 60 (3) sentence 1 no. 2 or no. 3 of the Federal Water Act, or
- at least one landfill in accordance with Article 10 in conjunction with Annex I of Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control), as amended
exists or is to be established.
Department 9 - State Office for Geology, Raw Materials and Mining of the Freiburg Regional Council is also the state-wide competent immission control authority for:
- Operational sites including the facilities and activities located thereon that are subject to mining supervision,
- Operating sites with cable cars and funicular railways used for passenger transport,
- Operating sites with high-pressure gas pipelines which, as energy installations within the meaning of the Energy Industry Act, serve to supply gas and which are designed for a maximum permissible operating pressure of more than 16 bar,
- Underground waste disposal facilities and
- Operating sites with facilities used for the construction, significant expansion and significant modification of underground cavities.
Please ensure that you submit the application for a preliminary decision to the immission control authority responsible for your project.
Contact
Details
Prerequisite
The competent authority must be able to sufficiently assess the authorisation requirements affected by the preliminary decision from the application submitted by you and the required documents. In addition, a preliminary forecast must confirm the overall approvability of your overall project and demonstrate a legitimate interest in issuing a preliminary decision.
Procedure
The application for a preliminary decision on an installation requiring authorisation is made as part of an immission control approval procedure, which requires a written or electronic application. To apply electronically for an immission control permit, you can use the online application "Apply for a permit under the Federal Immission Control Act", which adapts to the information you provide, guides you through the application process and provides specific technical information.
The application must be accompanied by the drawings, explanations and other documents required to check the authorisation requirements. If further documents are required by the responsible immission control authority or the respective specialised authorities for an assessment, these must be submitted subsequently.
As soon as the competent authority has completed its examination of the authorisation requirements affected by the preliminary decision and a positive preliminary overall assessment has been fulfilled, you will receive a corresponding decision from the competent authority.
If individual authorisation requirements have been conclusively assessed in the preliminary decision, the approval authority is bound by this in the subsequent approval procedure (staged procedure). However, the preliminary decision does not authorise the construction or operation of the plant. This is only possible when the final authorisation is applied for and granted.
Deadlines
The preliminary decision becomes invalid if you do not apply for authorisation of the installation within two years of the preliminary decision becoming invalid. In justified exceptional cases, the period of validity of the preliminary decision can be extended by up to two further years.
Required documents
The application must be accompanied by the documents required for an assessment. These are, for example
- Descriptions of the project, including information on plant components, process steps, material and product data,
- schematic diagrams and flow charts,
- Information on possible disruptions to normal operation,
- Information on emissions and immissions,
- Information on waste and waste water,
- Construction documents: site plan, construction drawings, construction description,
The competent authority may request further documents if necessary. Coordinate in advance with the responsible immission control authority regarding the documents required for an assessment.
If official decisions concerning the installation are communicated as part of the authorisation procedure (e.g. building permit), the documents required for this must also be submitted.
The application must always be made using the forms for the application for authorisation under immission control law. The forms and further information on the immission control authorisation procedure can be found in the Guideline - Authorisation and notification procedure in accordance with the Federal Immission Control Act of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment.
Costs
The fees are based on the investment costs for the system.
Processing time
As a rule, the licensing authority must check whether the documents are complete within one month of receiving the application. If the application documents are not sufficient for an assessment, they must be completed by the applicant.
Once the application documents are complete, the statutory deadlines for the authorisation procedure under immission control law commence; for new installations, this is seven months in a formal procedure and three months in a simplified procedure. For modification projects, the statutory deadline is six months in a formal procedure and three months in a simplified procedure. The deadlines can be extended by three months if this is necessary due to the difficulty of the examination or for reasons attributable to the applicant.
Miscellaneous
Coordinate in advance with the responsible immission control authority regarding the required documents.
The electronic application for a preliminary decision on an installation requiring authorisation is made using the same online application that is used to apply for the construction and operation of a new installation. The procedure variant is selected during the application process.
When submitting an electronic application via the Baden-Württemberg service portal, use the online process "Submit documents for immission control permit" for the subsequent submission of application documents.
Legal basis
Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz (BImSchG):
- § 9 Vorbescheid
Release note
machine generated, based on the German release by: Umweltministerium Baden-Württemberg, 11.03.2026