Environmental Assessments in the EU’s environmental policy

The SEA Directive was adopted, following a very long co-decision procedure, in 2001. The Directive applies to a wide range of public plans and programmes – however, it does not refer to policies which form the highest level of strategic planning and it does not provide a taxative list of plans/programmes similar to ones provided by Annexes I and II of the EIA Directive.

Plans and programmes falling under the scope of the SEA Directive must either be prepared and/or adopted by an authority (national, regional or local level) or be required by legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions. An SEA is mandatory for plans/programmes which are prepared for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, industry, transport, waste/water management, telecommunications, tourism, town and country planning or land use and which set the framework for future development consent of projects listed in annexes of the EIA Directive. Furthermore, an SEA is required for plans and programmes that would require an assessment under Article 6 or 7 of the Habitats Directive.

Considering their procedures and the obligations for Member States (screening, environmental report, public participation), EIA and SEA show great similarities, albeit there are also some differences, that will be presented in detail in Module 3.