The Governing Council approved a decree this Monday, driven by the regional government's departments of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water, and Tourism and Employment. The objective is, on the one hand, to make a specific amendment to the Land Law to allow for the extension of the validity of environmental reports. As defended by the regional Executive, this possibility "will prevent municipalities, island councils, and the Government itself from having the expiration of environmental reports block the processing of planning modifications and general plans".
On the other hand, the Law on Cooperative Societies of the Canary Islands is modified to extend the deadline for these entities to adapt their statutes to this regional regulation
The Expiration of Environmental Reports
Regarding the modification of the Land Law, it should be noted that the processing of both new general plans and minor modifications to existing ones requires an environmental report for approval. "The arduous processing of this type of file, which requires reports issued by different administrations, can be prolonged over time, causing environmental reports to lose the temporary validity recognized by law," they indicate
This situation causes the procedure to have to be restarted, affecting its legal certainty and the efficient use of human and economic resources in the administration. To avoid this deadlock, the approved decree proposes two specific amendments to the Law on Land and Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands.
On the one hand, the incorporation of a new section to Article 86 of this text with the aim of allowing the extension for two years of the validity of strategic environmental reports. These documents, which are currently non-extendable, are part of minor planning modifications promoted by city councils, island councils, and the Canary Islands Government itself. At the request of any of these administrations, the validity of these reports may be extended to avoid blocking the processing of the entire file if the deadline is met. This measure has already been adopted in other autonomous communities with the same objective.On the other hand, a new section is incorporated into the seventh transitional provision, to extend by twelve months the expiry of environmental reports already approved and included in the processing of general plans. The condition established by this second measure is that the processing of the document has already passed the public exhibition stage.
In both cases, the aim is to "provide viability and legal certainty to the files" so that the expiration of environmental procedures does not cause the suspension of the proceedings.
Cooperative Societies Law
Regarding the second of the modifications introduced by this decree, its purpose is to extend the deadline for cooperative societies in the Canary Islands to adapt their statutes to Law 4/2022. With this reform, the limit initially set for January 10, 2026, is extended to January 10, 2027, granting cooperatives additional time to complete this regulatory adaptation process with due guarantees. In this way, cooperatives and the social economy, a priority sector for the Ministry of Tourism and Employment, are favored.
