Transcript ANTEPRIMA PORTALE OSSERVATORIO AMBIENTE

Environmental Dialogue between of Ministry of Natural Resources
of Russia and the European Commission, DG Environment
Workshop on The Espoo Convention and the Russian Federation;
opportunities and challenges
(Friday, 21 September 2007
Moscow, Hotel Golden Ring, Hall Sergiev Posad)
Impact of the Espoo Convention in domestic legislation and
practices
Francesco La Camera
Scientific Director of Sicilian Observatory for the Environment - ORSA –
www.orsanet.it
The Legislative framework
 Italian Ratification of Espoo Convention : Law n. 640/94, 3
November 1994
 EU law on Environmental Impact Assessment : Directive on EIA
(85/337, amended by 97/11 and by 2003/35)
 Decree 3 April 2006, n. 152: Environmental Law (art. 11 and
39 deals with the Convention)
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Cases
 Croatia: 4 cases (3 sea pipelines for the transport of gas; 1
installation for the gasification)
 Switzerland: 4 cases (1 overhead electrical power line; 1
railway tunnel – Aosta - Martigny; 1 dam; 1 waste disposal
installation)
 Slovenia: 6 cases ( 3 thermal power stations, 2 installations for
the gasification, 1 railway)
 France: 2 cases ( 1 railway Turin - Lyon, 1 railways tunnel - Frejus
-)
 Austria: 2 cases ( 1railway tunnel – Brennero -, 1 overhead
electrical power line)
 17 procedures (1 involving Italy, Slovenia and Croatia). In 8
cases are common projects
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Notification – SEA procedure(only for EU member states)
 Notification has to be done before the adoption of the plan or
program and include all SEA documentation. The opinion by the
affected Party is to be provided within 60 days after the
notification. The timing is extended up to 90 days when, within
30 days following the notification, the affected party inform
about its intention to organize public consultation.
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Notification – EIA procedure:
 Notification has to be done before the adoption of the project. It
include a description of the project and information about the
nature if the decision to be taken.
 In 30 days the affected Party inform about its intention to
participate. In case it intend to participate all EIA documentation
need to be sent. The opinion by the affected Party is to be
provided within 30 days. The timing is extended up to 90 days
when the affected party inform about its intention to organize
public consultation.
 In 5 cases the potentially affected parties ha expressed not
interest to participate
 In 1 case we have requested to be informed as affected Party.
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Notification: focal point or joint body?
 The Italy-Croatia cooperation. Bilateral agreement in1998: Joint
Body established in order to deal with all projects falling under
the scope of the Convention.
Objectives:
 - facilitate the exchange of information,
 co-ordinate the internal procedures,
 settle other procedural issues.
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Consultations
 Consultations relating to the coordination of the EIA national
procedures take place at the very early stage of the procedure.
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EIA documentation
 The environmental information is related to whole project, i.e.
environmental impacts in both countries. It is collected by the
proponent
 The proponent will provide for the translation of the Eia
documentation. Usually the main designs of the projects and the
summary of the EIA documentation
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Public Participation and consultation
 Each Country carries out public consultation according to its
national legislation. This consultation is referred also to transboundary impacts produced on its territory by the project
located on the territory of the other country. The affected Party
inform the Party of origin about the results of this consultation.
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Decision
 Final decision is taken according to our internal EIA procedure. It
take into account all comments received, included the comments
of the public of the other Country.
 In particular, in case of common projects, before the final
decision on the proposed activity is taken, focal points usually
meet to exchange the final results and discuss about it in order
to try to arrive at e coherent decision They may identify common
elements to be included into the final decision (e.g.
environmental monitoring, possible measures to mitigate relevant
impact and environmental compensation measures. ).
 The final decision, including related reasons and considerations,
is sent to the affected Party.
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Impact on internal EIA procedure
 The timing of internal EIA procedure may be extended up to 90
days. In practice the transboundary procedure may be conducted
in parallel.
 Relevant costs for the EIA documentation translation and other
have to be covered by the proponent. So no additional cost for
the administration.
 The number of cases is very short and limited to very large or
common projects
 Optimization of the functioning and costs of the monitoring
 Exchange of experiences and methods and improving of internal
practices
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