As of January 1, 2016, the rights of a mining company and individual landowner to appeal from the majority of the mining authority’s decisions to the Supreme Administrative Court will be significantly reduced, reports the Mining Law Team from Finnish law firm Kalliolaw. This change results from the introduction of a new retrial permit procedure, which takes effect on January 1, 2016. Certain decisions related to mining activities, such as decisions regarding the cancellation of exploration permits, may, however, still be freely appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court.
The possibility to appeal from the decisions made by the mining authority, ie the Finnish Safety and Chemical Agency (Tukes), first to administrative courts and then to the Supreme Administrative Court has so far been unrestricted. The upcoming amendment revises the current appeal procedure so that appealing to the Supreme Administrative Court will in general only be possible if a retrial permit is granted. The amendment is related to a broader legislative reform aimed to enhance and accelerate the handling of administrative decisions made by Finnish authorities. The retrial permit procedure is applied only to such Tukes’ decisions which are rendered on or after January 1, 2016.
Kalliolaw points out that for a mining company, in the event that an exploration or mining permit decision is appealed, obtaining a legally valid (ie non-appealable) permit will become quicker as the majority of appeals are in the future tried only at administrative court level. The amendment will, among others, concern Tukes’ decisions regarding the granting, revision and transfer of exploration and mining permits. On the other hand, certain Tukes’ decisions, which are mostly unfavorable from the perspective of exploration and mining companies, will remain subject to the current two-stage appeal procedure, guaranteeing the current level of legal protection.
The law firm states: “The lengthy appeal processing of exploration and mining permits have to an extent hampered the possibilities to practice exploration and mining activities in Finland. This has been a direct consequence of eg landowners’ unrestricted right to appeal from Tukes’ decisions all the way up to the Supreme Administrative Court. Against this background, we consider that the new restrictions on appealing will in general clearly improve the operational preconditions of Finnish mining companies.”
Kalliolaw is once again participating at the Fennoscandian Exploration and Mining 2015 event, which is being held November 3-5 at the Levi Summit Congress & Exhibition Centre in Levi, Finland.