Environmental Assessments and Authorizations: SEA - EIA - IPPC Permit

On the 27^th and 28^th of November 2014 under the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union the meeting of the Commission Group of EIA/SEA National Experts will take place in Rome, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Group brings together environmental experts from national administrations nominated by the relevant Member States and meets twice per year. The role of the Group is to provide advice and expertise to the European Commission in relation to the coordination and cooperation with Member States, the implementation of the EIA/SEA Directives and the preparation of legislative proposals and policy initiatives.

More information on the previous meetings of the Commission Group of EIA/SEA National Experts can be found here.

The DG Environmental Assessments (DGEA) has organized the meeting together with the European Commission and will attend the meeting with the designated national experts.

Among the different items of the agenda, as proposed by DGEA, the access to information within EIA-SEA processes will be discussed with regard to the new disposition, provided for by the new EIA directive 2014/52/UE, to establish a central portal or points of access, at the appropriate administrative level, that allow the public to access that information easily and effectively. On this subject, the DGEA will present the Environmental Assessments Portal and the Member States will illustrate their experiences and best practices.

The agenda includes, among the others, the final discussion of two relevant documents already prepared in draft versions and discussed by the Group during previous meetings: the revised version of the Commission’s Guidance “Interpretation of definitions of certain project categories of annex I and II of the EIA Directive” and of the Questionnaire regarding the “Second Report to the European Parliament and the Council on the Application and Effectiveness of the SEA Directive”, required by article 12(3) of the 2001/42/UE directive, which will be submitted by Member States by 30 May 2015.