EIA/IC/S/3 Armenia

Information on matters considered by the Committee

Submission by Azerbaijan having concerns about Armenia’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention (EIA/IC/S/3)

Submission by Azerbaijan having concerns about Armenia’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention,  with respect to the planned construction of a nuclear power station in Metsamor, Armenia (5 May 2011).

At its twenty-first session (20 June 2011), the Implementation Committee took note of the submission by Azerbaijan (ECE/MP.EIA/IC/2011/4, para.12).

The Committee considered the matter at its twenty-second (5-7 September 2011, ECE./MP.EIA/IC/2011/6, para. 16-21), twenty-third (5-7 December 2011, ECE/MP.EIA/IC/2011/8, paras. 12-15), twenty-fourth (20-23 March 2012, ECE/MP.EIA/IC/2012/2, paras. 11-13) and twenty-fifth sessions (11-13 September 2012, ECE/MP.EIA/IC/2012/4, paras. 7 and 8).

Before finalizing its findings and recommendations the Implementation Committee sent its draft to the Parties concerned and invited them to submit their comments or representations according to para. 9 of the Structure and Functions of the Implementation Committee and Procedures for Review of Compliance (appendix to Decicion III/2). Both Parties sent their comments and representatios to the Committee on due time.

At its twenty-sixth session (26-28 November 2012) the Committee finalized its findings and recommendations taking into account representations and comments received from the two Parties concerned (ECE/MP.EIA/IC/2012/6, paras. 11-15 and Annex I).

At its sixth session (Geneva, 2-5 June 2014), the Meeting of the Parties requested the Committee to follow up and, as appropriate, monitor the steps in the transboundary EIA procedure in relation to the planned construction of the Metsamor NPP (decision VI/2, paras. 45–46).  At its thirty-second session (Geneva, 9-11 December 2014), the Committee took note of the information from Armenia that the Government, through decision 511-A of 19 May 2014, had approved its new energy programme, which among other projects, envisaged that the construction of the new block of the NPP would only start in 2018.  Armenia also informed the Committee that that the decision for the planned construction of the NPP was no longer valid, the activities based on that decision were suspended and that there was no transboundary EIA procedure relating to that project. Thus the Committee decided that there was no longer a ground to follow up on the decision VI/2, paras. 45–46. It decided to recommend to the Meeting of the Parties to close the case and to encourage Armenia to ensure that any projects carried out in accordance with energy-related programmes, including nuclear activities, be in compliance with the Convention.

The Committee also observed that the Programme of the Government of 19 May 2014 seemed to set the framework for future activities in the energy field. Therefore, as Armenia was a Party to the Protocol on SEA, the Committee initiated an information-gathering procedure on Protocol matters (SEA/IC/INFO/2) to establish whether the Government programme in question should have been a subject to an SEA

For the outcomes of the Committee’s deliberations since the seventh session of the Meeting of the Parties (Minsk, 13-16 June 2017), please see the Committee’s report on its forty-second session.