Implementation
of Directive 2001/42 on the Assessment of the Effects
of Certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment
(the 'EC Guide')
5. THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT |
Table of Contents |
7. CONSULTATION |
6. QUALITY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT
6.1. Practical experience with the EIA Directive
(which contains no specific requirements as to quality)
has shown that the provision of information in the
environmental assessment is sometimes defective.
During the preparation of the SEA Directive, there
were concerns that, here too, environmental reports
might be incomplete or be drawn up without proper
application of the procedure.
6.2. The aim is to ensure that the environmental
report will contain information that is complete
and reliable (subject to the provisos in Article
5) and will be adequate for the purposes of the
Directive. The specific provision on this issue
provides extra emphasis on the importance of the
environmental report and the proper application
of Article 5 of the Directive.
Article 12(2)
Member States shall ensure that environmental
reports are of a sufficient quality to meet the
requirements of this Directive and shall communicate
to the Commission any measures they take concerning
the quality of these reports.
6.3. The Directive does not elaborate what is sufficient
quality. But since the SEA process and
environmental report are both defined by the Directive,
a correct transposition and proper application of
its provisions, both in content and procedure would
appear to meet the requirement for sufficient quality.
The Directive does not specify additional measures
to ensure that this quality is sufficient.
6.4. In most cases, it will be the individual authority
that has to decide before it adopts a plan or programme
whether a specific environmental report is of sufficient
quality or, if not, what action needs to be taken
to rectify the deficiencies. This might include
amending or augmenting the environmental report
or even repeating part or all of the SEA procedure.
In identifying what makes for satisfactory quality,
the authorities responsible for the plan or programme
will need to pay close attention to the requirements
of the Directive as set out in Article 5 and Annex
I. They will also need to pay close attention to
the results of consultation with the environmental
authorities and the public under Article 6. They
will need to bear in mind that a defective report
may call into question the validity of any acts
or decisions taken in pursuance of it.
6.5. The procedural and substantive requirements
of the Directive, if properly implemented and applied,
may be envisaged as a 'minimum standard' for ensuring
the quality of environmental reports. Member States
may decide for themselves whether to establish additional
measures and, if so, what these should be. There
is a wide variety of possible models.[15]
Many measures that are used in EIA practice may
be adequate and appropriate for the purposes of
the SEA Directive. Examples are independent assessments
(such as a review panel, or a government commission
which advises about the quality of the information
in the environmental report); guidelines which prescribe
procedural or substantive requirements for the planning
authority to follow; an independent institution
(to be used when determining the level of detail
and scope of the environmental report); or simply
reliance on appeals by complainants to a court of
law.
6.6. As well as ensuring that every procedural
step of the SEA process leading up to the environmental
report is of sufficient quality, other methods may
be envisaged to try to maintain the quality of the
entire process. This may be done by, for example,
checklists that demonstrate transparently whether
every step in the procedure has been dealt with
and dealt with properly; or by more advanced, computerised
models enabling comparison to be made between the
quality of individual elements in the environmental
report and the quality of the report as a whole.
6.7. Any measures Member States
take concerning the quality of
the environmental reports will have to be communicated
to the Commission. Among other things, this provision
is intended to collect experiences within the Member
States so that, for instance, innovative approaches
can be disseminated amongst them. Even if these
measures go beyond the obligations of the Directive,
it will help to improve practice across the whole
Community if they are disseminated as widely as
possible.
Notes
[15]
For an overview, see also Royal Haskoning.
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