An environmental impact assessment shall be made before an offshore activity is permitted to start.

The environmental impact assessment shall identify, describe and assess in an appropriate manner, in the light of each individual case and in accordance with Articles 4 to 11, the direct and indirect effects of a project on the following factors:

(Assessment of Environmental Impact)

1. Assessment of Environmental Impact

4. Comprehensive Assessment of Environmental Impact

environmental impact studies.

SCOPING

1.4. Works with environmental impact are works for which environmental protection regulations prescribe a mandatory environmental impact assessment.

For plans and programmes subject to strategic environmental assessment, each Party shall ensure that an environmental report is prepared.

1. categories of activities for which an environmental impact assessment is always mandatory;

The Final Project Proposal shall be accompanied by all necessary documents (e.g. feasibility study, Project document, environmental impact study) to allow a thorough appraisal.

Each Party shall ensure that a strategic environmental assessment is carried out for plans and programmes referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 which are likely to have significant environmental, including health, effects.

PROTOCOL ON STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT TO THE CONVENTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN A TRANSBOUNDARY CONTEXT

Recognizing that strategic environmental assessment should have an important role in the preparation and adoption of plans, programmes, and, to the extent appropriate, policies and legislation, and that the wider application of the principles of environmental impact assessment to plans, programmes, policies and legislation will further strengthen the systematic analysis of their significant environmental effects,

For plans and programmes other than those subject to paragraph 2 which set the framework for future development consent of projects, a strategic environmental assessment shall be carried out where a Party so determines according to article 5, paragraph 1.

b) assessment of identified effects in terms of the environmental objectives of the plan;

A strategic environmental assessment shall be carried out for plans and programmes which are prepared for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, industry including mining, transport, regional development, waste management, water management, telecommunications, tourism, town and country planning or land use, and which set the framework for future development consent for projects listed in annex I and any other project listed in annex II that requires an environmental impact assessment under national legislation.

Each Party shall ensure timely public availability of the conclusions pursuant to paragraph 1, including the reasons for not requiring a strategic environmental assessment, whether by public notices or by other appropriate means, such as electronic media.

` Convention` means the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context.

(d) Providing for public participation in strategic environmental assessment; and

For plans and programmes referred to in paragraph 2 which determine the use of small areas at local level and for minor modifications to plans and programmes referred to in paragraph 2, a strategic environmental assessment shall be carried out only where a Party so determines according to article 5, paragraph 1.

implementation of the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a transboundary context when signed.

Conscious, therefore, of the importance of providing for public participation in strategic environmental assessment,

General information resulting from an environmental impact assessment, if available and relevant;

` Strategic environmental assessment` means the evaluation of the likely environmental, including health, effects, which comprises the determination of the scope of an environmental report and its preparation, the carrying-out of public participation and consultations, and the taking into account of the environmental report and the results of the public participation and consultations in a plan or programme.

(c) Establishing clear, transparent and effective procedures for strategic environmental assessment;

(e) The fact that the activity is subject to a national or transboundary environmental impact assessment procedure.

activity with environmental effects) in accordance with the regulation governing the types of activities for which an environmental impact assessment needs to be carried out,

DECREE on the environmental report and on the detailed procedure for a full environmental assessment of plans

Whether the plan or programme is likely to be subject to a transboundary assessment procedure.

- it defines or envisages an activity affecting the environment for which an environmental impact assessment needs to be carried out (hereinafter:

(2) In the first stage of the global assessment procedure, the likelihood of the plan having effects on the environment is established and the importance of these effects for the environment is assessed.

- environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment,

(b) Exchange information regarding experience gained in strategic environmental assessment and in the implementation of this Protocol;

an indication of the fact (if applicable) that a plan has previously been approved in the procedure of global assessment of environmental effects which is the basis for the intended plan, and an indication of any activities or areas additionally planned by the intended plan which have not yet been the subject of a global assessment of environmental effects;

Bearing in mind the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, done at Espoo, Finland, on 25 February 1991, and decision II/9 of its Parties at Sofia on 26 and 27 February 2001, in which it was decided to prepare a legally binding protocol on strategic environmental assessment,

(a) Review policies for and methodological approaches to strategic environmental assessment with a view to further improving the procedures provided for under this Protocol;

(c) undertake environmental impact assessment for proposed activities that are likely to cause a significant adverse impact on the marine environment and are subject to an authorisation by competent national authorities;

Any activity not covered by paragraphs 1-19 above where public participation is provided for under an environmental impact assessment procedure in accordance with national legislation.

The project envisages the assessment of environmental impacts, which is of key importance for a country facing a public debate on the construction of facilities that impinge on the environment.

3. categories, classes and criteria for the determination of the status of an endangered part of the environment and the rehabilitation regime (4. paragraph of article 28.);

the draft plan is a phase in the preparation of the plan where the plan is prepared to a degree of finality that enables assessment of its effects on the environment on the basis of an environmental report;

protected areas), the provisions of the regulation governing assessment of acceptability of the effects of the implementation of plans on protected areas shall also be applied in the preparation of the environmental report.

Assessment of potential effects should lead to a concise statement of the expected consequences of the sea or land disposal options, ie, the "Impact Hypothesis".

- data and assessments from comparable cases of already implemented global assessments or environmental impact assessments or other technical material containing data and assessments suitable for a global assessment (e.g. a study of the vulnerability of an area);

the ministry) for an opinion on the suitability of the starting-points for the preparation of the environmental report for specific cases of global assessment of the environmental effects of the implementation of plans (hereinafter:

Each Party shall ensure early, timely and effective opportunities for public participation, when all options are open, in the strategic environmental assessment of plans and programmes.

When a hazardous activity is subject to an environmental impact assessment in accordance with the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context and that assessment includes an evaluation of the transboundary effects of industrial accidents from the hazardous activity which is performed in conformity with the terms of this Convention, the final decision taken for the purposes of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context shall fulfil the relevant requirements of this Convention.

Applying the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle and the method of environmental impact assessment, and utilizing the best available techniques and the best environmental practices, as provided for in Article 4 of the Convention,

The relevant provisions of this Protocol shall apply without prejudice to the UNECE Conventions on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context and on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.