Municipalities in the Environmental Impact Assessment System. Legal standing to appeal against an Environmental Qualification Resolution

Abstract

The article examines the role of municipalities in the assessment of projects and activities submitted to the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA), as well as their standing to challenge Environmental Qualification Resolutions. Using a dogmatic method, it advances the hypothesis that municipalities have a specific function within the SEIA, one that is neither comparable nor extendable to that of citizens. Accordingly, under the principle of legality, municipalities should not be entitled to activate the special appeals system established in Articles 20, 29, and 30 bis of Law No. 19,300, nor in Article 17 No. 6 of Law No. 20,600.