The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) on December 17, 2025, issued clarification on the term "same category" mentioned in paragraph 7(ii) (b) of the EIA Notification 2006.
The Ministry, through Notification S.O. 980(E) dated March 02, 2021, amended the EIA Notification 2006 to exempt certain capacity expansions from the requirement of prior Environmental Clearance (EC). Specifically, for sectors listed under items 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the Schedule, any increase in production capacity—whether or not accompanied by changes in raw material mix, product mix, quantities, number of products (including new products within the same category), or plant/process configuration within or contiguous to the existing approved area—does not require a fresh EC, provided there is no increase in pollution load compared to what was under the original EC.
The Ministry later received representations seeking clarification on the term “same category” used in paragraph 7(ii)(b) of the EIA Notification 2006, which applies to the same items (2–5). Upon examination, it was observed that ambiguity mainly arises in relation to Synthetic Organic Chemicals under item 5(f), which covers multiple sub-categories: (a) dyes and dye intermediates, (b) bulk drugs and intermediates (excluding formulations), (c) synthetic rubbers, (d) basic organic chemicals, and (e) other synthetic organic chemicals and intermediates.
The Ministry clarified that, for ECs granted under item 5(f), any change in the quantities or number of products within each of these individual sub-categories (a–e) will be treated as falling within the “same category.” Such changes are therefore exempt from the requirement of prior EC, as long as there is no increase in pollution load beyond what was derived under the original environmental clearance.
[File No. IA-J-11011/395/2025-IA-II(1)]
