The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification of 2006 is a subordinate legislative instrument issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), now MoEFCC, on September 14, 2006. It is a provision created under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, read with Rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986. The Notification superseded the earlier EIA Notification of January 27, 1994, which had first made environmental clearance mandatory for certain projects. The 2006 instrument was created to address gaps in the 1994 framework, aiming for a more transparent, efficient, and decentralized regulatory mechanism for integrating environmental concerns into the development process.
The core mechanism of the Notification is the mandatory requirement of Prior Environmental Clearance (EC) for new projects, expansion, or modernization of existing projects listed in its Schedule. It works by classifying projects into two main categories based on their potential impact: Category A projects, which are large-scale and require clearance from the central MoEFCC, and Category B projects, which are smaller and cleared at the state level by the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC). The procedural core involves a four-stage process: Screening (only for Category B projects, which are further classified into B1 requiring full EIA and B2 not requiring it), Scoping, Public Consultation, and Appraisal.
The Notification is connected to the constitutional mandate of Article 48A and Article 51A(g), and its statutory authority flows from the parent Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It must be distinguished from the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, which governs forest clearance. The Notification has been repeatedly amended, notably with the December 2016 amendment (S.O. No. 3999 (E)) that integrated environmental conditions with building permissions for construction projects, further decentralizing clearance for certain built-up areas. The fundamental structure of project categorization and the four-stage clearance process, however, remains the operative regime.