The Espoo Convention and Strategic Environmental Assessment Protocol in the European Union: Implementation, Compliance, Enforcement and Reform

Author(s):  
Simon Marsden
Spatium ◽  
2004 ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Tijana Crncevic

In July 2001, the European Union (EU) adopted the Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 27 June 2001 on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment, known as the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive. The EU countries will have three years, until July 2004, for the integration of the SEA Directive into national laws. The SEA Directive introduces procedural and technical requirements, according to which environmental assessment is compulsory for certain plans and programs but not for policies, except if they are a part of a plan, as well for plans and programs of national defence, civil emergencies, finance and budgets. According to the scope of the SEA Directive, environmental assessment is compulsory for plans and programs for infrastructure corridors ? transport, telecommunication and energy systems. In addition to the overview of the general framework for Strategic Environmental Assessment and the main requirements of the SEA Directive, the current situation in Serbia regarding the present condition of SEA is presented with special reference to the infrastructure corridors. One of the conclusions of this paper is that the main limitation for the implementation of SEA for plans and programs covering infrastructure corridors is the current legal situation. The main law which is supposed to introduce SEA has not been adopted yet, while the scope of the SEA within the new Planning and Construction Act includes SEA only for urban plans and does not cover, among others, plans for infrastructure corridors.


2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea De Montis ◽  
Simone Caschili ◽  
Amedeo Ganciu ◽  
Antonio Ledda ◽  
Filippo Paoli ◽  
...  

Transport and mobility plans imply strategies and actions that affect the environment. The European Union has introduced in 2001 the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to take into account and mitigate adverse environmental effects in planning and decision-making. SEA limited implementation has attracted the interest of many scholars that have sought methods able to assess the quality of SEA processes by identifying vices and virtues in practice. In this paper, we measure the quality of eight SEAs for transport and mobility plans of regional and provincial administrations of Italy. Results show that the overall quality level of SEA reports is only barely sufficient, Abruzzo is among the virtuous and Piedmont among the critical administrations. We also stress that the determination of impact significance has received the worse quality score. We finally compare our results to other Italian and British homologous cases finding interesting and generally confirmative evidences.


Author(s):  
José Ignacio CUBERO MARCOS

LABURPENA: Lan honek honako hau azaltzen du: ingurumen ebaluazio estrategikoa eskatzen duten plan eta programak onartzeko prozedurak xedatutako araubideak dauzkan kontraesan eta hutsune juridiko batzuk. Espainiak Aarhus ituna berretsi zuenetik eta Europar Batasunak 2003/35 Zuzentaraua onartu zuenetik, barneko planen ingurumenaren inguruko ebaluaziorako prozeduretan, pertsonek parte hartzeko gabeziak erakusten ditu legediak. Alde batetik, barneko agintariek pertsonei emateko aurretiazko informazioa eskaintzeko garrantzia gutxietsi dute; bestetik, zalantzak sortu dira ondoko gai honetan: Oraindik ere zalantzak daude ingurumenaren arloan parte hartzeko baldintzak sektoreko legeriarekin edo legeria orokorrarekin nola artikulatzen diren. Izan ere, azken legeria horrek aurreikusten dituen bermeak eta parte hartzeko eskubide desberdinak dira eta, batzuetan, aurreratuagoak. Lanak xede izango du konponbide batzuk ekartzea, Aarhus itunaren interpretazio finalista batean eta EBJAk emandako jurisprudentzian oinarrituz. This work exposes some contradictions and legal gaps regarding the legislation that regulates the participation of people in the procedures aimed at passing plans and programmes subjected to the strategic environmental assessment. Since Spain ratified the Aarhus Convention and the European Union passed 2003/35 Directive, the Spanish legislation shows still shortcomings so as to achieve an effective participation in the environmental assessment of plans. On the one hand, domestic authorities have ignored how important is to supply previous information to the public; on the other, there are doubts about how the requirements of participation in the environmental field are articulated with those provided for in the specific or general legislation, that establishes guarantees and different rights to participate, sometimes more progressive. This works aims at bringing some solutions, in accordance with a finalist interpretation of the Aarhus Convention and with the developments in the case law of the CJEU. RESUMEN: Este trabajo expone algunas contradicciones y vacíos jurídicos que se desprenden de la legislación que regula la participación de las personas en los procedimientos dirigidos a la aprobación de planes y programas que requieran evaluación ambiental estratégica. Desde que España ratificara el Convenio de Aarhus y la Unión Europea dictase la Directiva 2003/35, la legislación interna todavía presenta carencias para el logro de una participación efectiva en los procedimientos para la evaluación ambiental de planes. Por un lado, las autoridades internas han ignorado la importancia de ofrecer información previa al público; por otro, todavía perviven dudas en torno al modo en que se articulan los requisitos de participación en materia medioambiental con la legislación sectorial o general, que también prevé garantías y reconoce derechos de participación distintos y, a veces, más avanzados. El trabajo tendrá por objeto aportar algunas soluciones, inspirándose en una interpretación finalista del Convenio de Aarhus y en el desarrollo jurisprudencial ofrecido por el TJUE.


Author(s):  
Julie A. Ewald ◽  
Robin J.A. Sharp ◽  
Pedro Beja ◽  
Robert Kenward

In order to design TESS, it was necessary to determine how and what information is utilized across Europe when decisions affecting the environment are made at present, and which systems now in place appear to be working in terms of environmental protection and conservation. The authors used a Pan-European survey to determine not only which systems are currently in place but also what further information is needed by national and local governments as well as stakeholders. Results from this survey, together with published information from previous projects, the European Union and the United Nations, were collated into a database for further analysis. Here, the authors describe both the Pan-European survey methodology and also the database.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Yu Wu ◽  
Hwong-Wen Ma

There is an increasing need to evaluate environmental impacts at higher policy planning levels, especially after the European Union (EU) strategic environmental assessment (SEA) directive proposed in 2001. However, integrating SEA and policy planning processes is challenging owing to institutional challenges and/or political problems. We aimed to explore the challenges of this integration process through in-depth interviews with core stakeholders in Taiwan energy policy making. Our results reveal three main types of challenge related to policy planning, SEA implementation, and difficulties in dealing with environmental issues. The first includes the policy planning model, transparency in the policy planning process, and controversial issues clarification; the second includes the different types of SEA purposes, unclear feedback on policy planning, and public participation limitation; the third includes a lack of knowledge of brokerage processes, scientific uncertainty, the role of the Taiwan EPA (TEPA) for environmental thinking, and the influence of local information in policy planning. The results of this study can be applied to countries that use impact-oriented SEA (currently the most common type of SEA) and consider environmental issues during the energy policy planning process.


2020 ◽  
Vol 246 ◽  
pp. 118954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Corrado ◽  
Tomas Rydberg ◽  
Felipe Oliveira ◽  
Alessandro Cerutti ◽  
Serenella Sala

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