As a safety and environmental issue, ammunition legacy sites generate complex administrative involvement:
- Which legal areas are affected?
- What approval requirements do the different authorities have?
- What does a structured application processing look like?
- What financial resources are needed in total / per year?
- How can the entire process chain from exploration to disposal be monitored – and who is responsible for that?
- How is the necessary data management regulated?
Since 2012 administrative cooperation has been established in the Expert Group on Munition in the Sea of the Federal/State Working Group on the North Sea and Baltic Sea. In this committee, federal and state authorities from the departments of the environment, interior, defense, transport and economics exchange information on current developments in the field of munition in the sea. MUNIMAR goes one step further with its administrative pillar.
The results of the German immediate action program for munition recovery in the North Sea and Baltic Sea made clear that authorities need to engage in dialogue in order to structure, harmonize, standardize and consolidate planning and approval processes in Schleswig-Holstein. To this end, uniform standards for procedural and application documents should be established, the scope of investigations should be standardized, requirements for concepts (e.g. explosive ordnance disposal concepts) should be formulated and decisions on approvals and licenses should be prepared.
The development of clear guidelines and structures for approval processes must be an important first step in advancing the industrial clearance of munition contamination in the sea in a legally secure manner. It will be important to identify existing competencies and decision-making powers and to integrate them into the cooperation. The administrative pillar will thus work as a procedural control and act as a central point of contact for approval issues. Structure and standardization will give applicants procedural certainty and at the same time enable planning and approval processes to be accelerated, as the correct points of contact in the approval authorities will be known and procedures will be established. One of its key tasks will be to coordinate and prioritize munition clearance measures on behalf of the federal and state governments, including the use of a mobile disposal facility and the search for suitable locations for further disposal facilities on land.
In addition the administrative pillar of MUNIMAR can coordinate interdepartmental working groups (e.g. the Expert Group on Munition in the Sea). Identified gaps in the legal framework or any necessary adjustments in the relevant areas of law can be brought to the attention of the competent authorities from here and the necessary interaction to close the gaps can also be accompanied on an interdepartmental basis. The professional networking within the administrative pillar of MUNIMAR enables the implementation of initial administrative procedures and approval processes as well as the distribution of administrative tasks relating to munition disposal. This strengthens not only cooperation but also Germany's pioneering role in the field of munition recovery.
Contact Administration:
Alina Dallmann
Telefon: 0431 988 3450
munimar@mekun.landsh.de