---
title: "Pollution Control Permits"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/environmental-and-energy-law-en/pollution-control-permits-en"
field: "Environmental & Energy Law"
description: "Pollution control permits in Georgia: quality norms, per-source emission limits, environmental decision, integrated permit from 2026. Legal.ge."
reviewed: "2026-02-15"
updated: "2026-10-23"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Pollution Control Permits

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/environmental-and-energy-law-en/pollution-control-permits-en

## What Pollution Control Permits Regulate

Pollution control permits in Georgia rest on the normative system established by the Law of Georgia on Environmental Protection, which unites environmental protection norms, qualitative norms of the state of the environment, permissible emission limit norms, and the environmental decision — the administrative act without which most pollution generating activities become unlawful. This page explains how that system is constructed, who approves the individual norms, and how it translates into an understandable permitting process for your enterprise.

It is important to realise that a permit in this field is not the name of a single document: it is a combination of normative and administrative mechanisms. First, environmental protection and quality norms are established; then, on the basis of those norms, an emission limit is developed for each source; and finally an environmental decision is issued, which gives all of this its legal form. Understanding the sequence matters, because each stage builds on the previous one and an error at an early stage propagates through the entire permitting chain.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/environmental-and-energy-law-en/pollution-control-permits-en

### Which five groups of norms does the environmental protection law establish?

The law establishes qualitative norms of the state of the environment; permissible limit norms for emissions of harmful substances and pollution by microorganisms; norms for the use of chemical agents; ecological requirements for products; and environmental load norms. Their purpose is to ensure the ecological balance of the environment.

### Who approves the qualitative norms of the state of the environment and how often?

The qualitative norms are determined once every five years by the corresponding regulation, developed and approved by the ministry responsible for labour, health and social protection, in agreement with the environmental ministry.

### Why are emission norms individual for each source?

The norms are developed for each concrete source, taking into account its technological features and the background pollution of its location, so that the concentration at the site does not exceed the permissible level. This ensures that the limit corresponds to the real environment and technology.

### When does the integrated environmental permit become mandatory?

For activities subject to it under the Law on Industrial Emissions, the integrated environmental permit becomes mandatory from 1 September 2026. Until then, activities proceed on the basis of the environmental decision.