Environmental Assessments and Authorizations: SEA - EIA - IPPC Permit

Law 79 of 3 May 2016 on "Ratification and implementation of six environmental agreements" was published in the Official Journal - General Series n. 121 of 25.05.2016.

Three of the six ratifications are related to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, done at Espoo on 25 February 1991, ratified by Italy by the Law 3 November 1994, n. 640, and are referred to:

• Decision II/14 on the amendment to the Espoo Convention, adopted at Sofia on 27 February 2001; it extends the definition of the “public” and provides for the opening of accession to the Convention for States from outside the UN/ECE region;
• Decision III/7 introducing the second amendment to the Espoo Convention, adopted at Cavtat on 1 – 4 June 2004; it allows the Parties to participate in the delimitation of the scope of the assessment, updates the list of activities in Appendix I of the Convention and regulates certain institutional issues of the Convention, such as the examination of compliance with the provisions, the powers of the Meeting of the Parties and the entry into force of the amendments;
• Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the Espoo Convention, adopted in Kiev on 21 May 2003; it extends the scope of the Espoo Convention (EIA of projects) to the SEA of plans and programmes.

The ratification of the two amendments to the Espoo Convention and the SEA Protocol complement the full implementation by Italy of the UN/ECE environmental policies on the prevention of transboundary environmental impacts related to certain human activities.

In particular, the ratification of the first amendment (to date 25 States, including Italy, out of 45 which are Parties of the Espoo Convention have ratified it) represents an important step forward the process allowing a State from outside the UN/ECE region to accede to the Convention through the approval of the Meeting of the Parties. However, this procedure will be effective only when all States that were Parties to the Espoo Convention have ratified the first amendment.

Go to the Official Journal n. 121 of 25.05.2016