Lanzarote definitively approves its insular environmental assessment body

The Insular Council of Lanzarote and La Graciosa has definitively approved the modification of the Organic Regulation creating and regulating the Insular Environmental Evaluation Body of Lanzarote and La Graciosa (OEAI). The announcement, dated September 17, 2026, is published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands no. 195, of September 29, 2026, section V (Announcements), announcement no. 3373, page 35629. The regulation will enter into force 15 business days after its full publication in the Official Gazette of the Province of Las Palmas.

The definitive approval comes after the public exhibition period of the initial approval, announced in the Official Gazette of the Province of Las Palmas no. 79, on Friday, July 3, 2026, passed without any claims or suggestions. The text is based on the agreement adopted by the Plenary of the Corporation in the ordinary session of June 25, 2026, and on articles 49 b) and 70.2 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime, as well as article 17 of Legislative Royal Decree 2/2004, of March 5.

The jurisdictional framework proceeds from article 11.3 of Law 21/2013, of December 9, on environmental evaluation, and from articles 86.6.c) and 86.7 and the first additional provision of Law 4/2017, of July 13, on Land and Protected Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands. The Regulation is signed by the Managing Director Miguel Ángel Jiménez Cabrera, by delegation of Decree no. 2023-4715, of July 21, 2023.

A collegiate body with functional autonomy

The OEAI is configured as a complementary body of the Council of Lanzarote, of an administrative and collegiate nature, attached for organizational purposes to the Presidency Area, without belonging to its hierarchical structure. Its members shall exercise their functions with independence, impartiality, and objectivity, without being subject to any hierarchical link.

Its composition and appointment rules are as follows:

• A Presidency, a Secretariat, and four members, all with their respective alternates.
• Appointment by agreement of the Plenary of the Insular Corporation by absolute majority, upon proposal by the Presidency of the Council.
• A five-year term, renewable for periods of equal duration.
• The Secretariat must be a civil servant of subgroup A1; the memberships, public employees of subgroups A1 or A2, permanent contractual staff of groups 1 and 2, or persons of recognized professional competence.
• Headquarters at the Insular Council of Lanzarote, Avenida Fred Olsen, s/n, Arrecife, with in-person or remote attendance.

What it evaluates and for whom

The territorial scope of the body is limited to the islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, and its material scope covers the environmental assessment of plans, programs, and projects, whether of public or private initiative, that may have significant effects on the environment.

• It shall act in proceedings whose approval, substantial modification, adaptation, or authorization corresponds to the Insular Council of Lanzarote.
• It shall also act in those of municipalities that delegate the competence to it, in which case its action shall be limited to the territory of the delegating city councils.
• It may assume, through a management entrustment agreement, the material or technical aspects of the competence of municipal environmental bodies.
• It shall also evaluate plans, programs, and projects promoted by the public bodies of the Council of Lanzarote and by those of the municipalities with which delegation is agreed.
• In municipalities with fewer than 100,000 legal inhabitants, the environmental assessment of the structural urban planning of general plans and their substantial modifications shall continue to correspond to the regional environmental body.

Operation, deadlines, and technical support

Sessions shall be convened with a minimum of 48 hours’ notice, reduced to 24 hours for extraordinary and urgent sessions. A valid constitution in the first call requires the Presidency, the Secretariat, and three members, with at least four members entitled to vote; in the second call, 30 minutes later, the Presidency, the Secretariat, and two members are sufficient.

Agreements are adopted by a majority vote of those present, with a casting vote by the Presidency to resolve ties, and anyone who dissents has 48 hours to submit a written dissenting opinion. The body shall have an administrative, technical, and legal Support Office and a Permanent Commission for Studies and Issuance of Reports, whose reports shall have no direct effect on third parties. Attendance fees shall be paid in accordance with Royal Decree 462/2002.

The relevance of the regulation is direct for public and private promoters and for the city councils of the two islands: it establishes a single insular environmental body, with rules on composition, quorum, and deadlines, and opens the way for delegation or management entrustment so that municipalities can transfer the evaluation of their projects and plans to it.

Source: Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, no. 195, of September 29, 2026, section V (Announcements), page 35629 (official reference: announcement no. 3373).