Resource Manual to Support Application of the Protocol on SEA
Draft Final
Implementation
of Directive 2001/42 on the Assessment of the Effects
of Certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment
(the 'EC Guide')
3. SCOPE OF THE DIRECTIVE |
Table of Contents |
5. THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT |
4. GENERAL OBLIGATIONS
4.1. Article 4 deals with three issues, the timing
of the environmental assessment, the procedural
arrangements for compliance, and the avoidance of
duplication when plans and programmes form part
of a hierarchy.
Article 4(1)
The environmental assessment referred to in
Article 3 shall be carried out during the preparation
of a plan or programme and before its adoption or
submission to the legislative procedure.
4.2. As a matter of good practice, the environmental
assessment of plans and programmes should influence
the way the plans and programmes themselves are
drawn up. While a plan or programme is relatively
fluid, it may be easier to discard elements which
are likely to have undesirable environmental effects
than it would be when the plan or programme has
been completed. At that stage, an environmental
assessment may be informative but is likely to be
less influential. Article 4(1) places a clear obligation
on authorities to carry out the assessment during
the preparation of the plan or programme.
Article 4(2) and 4(3)
(2) The requirements of this Directive shall
either be integrated into existing procedures in
Member States for the adoption of plans and programmes
or incorporated in procedures established to comply
with this Directive.
(3) Where plans and programmes form part of
a hierarchy, Member States shall, with a view to
avoiding duplication of the assessment, take into
account the fact that the assessment will be carried
out, in accordance with the Directive, at different
levels of the hierarchy. For the purpose of, inter
alia, avoiding duplication of assessment, Member
States shall apply Article 5(2) and (3).
4.3. In Article 4(2), the Directive provides for
the environmental assessment procedure either to
be integrated into existing procedures for the adoption
of plans or programmes or, to be incorporated in
a separate procedure.
4.4. Where the assessment procedure is integrated
into the existing preparation process for the plan
or programme itself, the SEA procedure can affect
the procedure for preparing the draft plan or programme.
In this case, the preparation process for the draft
plan or programme needs to be adjusted to agree
with the demands of the Directive. The type of change
which could be needed will depend on existing procedures
but could involve, for example, adjustments to,
or inclusion of, the public that has to be identified
under Article 6(4) and the authorities that have
to be designated under Article 6(3) in order to
integrate properly the different steps of the assessment
process into the preparation of the plan or programme.
4.5. In some circumstances, there may be more than
one plan or programme dealing with the same broad
subject matter but over a different geographical
area or in different degrees of detail. For example,
a land use plan may set out a vision for the development
of an entire region; there may be a series of more
detailed land use plans for the constituent parts
of the region which set out in greater detail how
the development of these areas is foreseen; whilst
at municipal level there may be still more detailed
plans which provide a very comprehensive framework
for the development of the area. Article 4(3) combined
with Article 5(2) and (3) is intended to ensure
that duplication of assessment is avoided in this
kind of situation.
4.6. If certain aspects of a plan or programme
have been assessed at one stage of the planning
process and the assessment of a plan or programme
at a later stage of the process uses the findings
of the earlier assessment, those findings must be
up to date and accurate for them to be used in the
new assessment. They will also have to be placed
in the context of that assessment. If these conditions
cannot be met, the later plan or programme may require
a fresh or updated assessment, even though it is
dealing with matter which was also the subject of
the earlier plan or programme.
4.7. It is clear that the decision to reuse material
from one assessment in carrying out another will
depend on the structure of the planning process,
the contents of the plan or programme, and the appropriateness
of the information in the environmental report,
and that decisions will have to be taken case by
case. They will have to ensure that comprehensive
assessments of each element of the planning process
are not impaired, and that a previous assessment
used at a subsequent stage is placed in the context
of the current assessment and taken into account
in the same way. In order to form an identifiable
report, the relevant information must be brought
together: it should not be necessary to embark on
a paper-chase in order to understand the environmental
effects of a proposal. Depending on the case, it
might be appropriate to summarise earlier material,
refer to it, or repeat it. But there is no need
to repeat large amounts of data in a new context
in which it is not appropriate.
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5. THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT |