PRMI Reform View

Elimination of Requirement for NOC from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Buildings of Non-Hazardous Category
Reform ID		A174
Reform Description		Elimination of Requirement for NOC from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Buildings of Non-Hazardous Category Before: Businesses were required to obtain an NOC from the EPA for building construction regardless of their risk category. This caused delays and increased costs for low-risk small businesses. After: Now, the NOC requirement has been removed for low-risk buildings.
Sector		All Sectors
Beneficiaries		All Businesses
Jurisdiction/ Location		Azad Jammu and Kashmir
Department		AJK Environmental Protection Secretariat
Date of Implementation
Details	Difficulty	● NOC from the EPA was required for construction of all buildings regardless of whether business posed a hazard to the environment or not. ● This meant that even businesses like wedding halls, warehouses (storing non-hazardous material), educational institutions etc. were required to obtain EPA’s NOC, causing delay and increasing burden in terms of cost and time.
	Analysis	After consultation with relevant stakeholders, it was observed that imposition of this regulation for the non-hazardous category seems unnecessary and creates a burden on SMEs.
	Solution	To facilitate small construction and manufacturing businesses, the requirement of NOC has been eliminated for non-hazardous categories.
Evidence