Negative Declaration Law & Legal Definition

Negative Declaration is a document that is prepared after a detailed study on the development or project and which states that the planned development or project will not have a significant adverse effect on the environment. A negative declaration will have a local government's recognition. Where a negative declaration is given by the governmental agency the developer need not prepare an environmental impact report (EIR).

The following is an example of a state statute(California) defining the term negative declaration:

According to Cal Pub Resources Code § 21064,"negative declaration" means a written statement briefly describing the reasons that a proposed project will not have a significant effect on the environment and does not require the preparation of an environmental impact report.