Coal-fired power plants, industrial plants, intensive livestock farming and similar facilities cause air pollution, noise, vibrations, etc. to a particularly high degree.

In order to protect people and the environment from harmful environmental impacts and to prevent the occurrence of harmful environmental impacts, such plants require a permit for construction and operation in accordance with the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG). The installations that require a permit due to their type and size are listed exhaustively in the Ordinance on Installations Requiring a Permit (4th BIm-SchV).

An installation that does not require a permit and that has already been erected or whose erection or major modification has already begun becomes subject to a permit when it is included in the list of installations requiring a permit in the Ordinance (4th BImSchV). In this case, the installation is subject to the approval requirements under immission control law and must be notified to the competent authority within a period of three months after the respective 4th Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act (Ordinance on Installations Requiring Approval) comes into force.