¨     Uniform Consent Guidelines amended by the Centre to streamline environmental approvals.

¨     The Uniform Consent Guidelines under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 were amended by the Central Government to improve regulatory efficiency.
¨     These amendments were introduced with the objective of streamlining environmental approvals, reducing procedural delays, and strengthening compliance mechanisms across industries.
¨     These guidelines, first issued in 2025, provide a uniform national framework for granting, refusing or cancelling consent to establish (CTE) and consent to operate (CTO).
¨     Greater consistency, transparency, and accountability in consent management by State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committees were sought through these changes.
¨     A key reform was the introduction of Consolidated Consent and Authorisation, allowing industries to apply through a single-window system for multiple environmental approvals.
¨     The validity of the Consent to Operate was extended to continue until cancellation, thereby removing the requirement for periodic renewals while retaining inspection-based oversight.
¨     For Red Category industries, the processing timeline was reduced from 120 days to 90 days to expedite decision-making.
¨     Registered Environmental Auditors were permitted to conduct site visits and verify compliance alongside pollution control authorities to strengthen enforcement capacity.
¨     Micro and Small Enterprises located in notified industrial estates were provided deemed Consent to Establish based on self-certified applications.
¨     The revised framework was stated to balance ease of doing business with environmental protection through continuous monitoring, trust-based governance, and a uniform national mechanism.