Environmental Impact Assessment

The initial Directive of 1985 (85/337/EEC) is in force since 1985 and applies to a wide range of defined public and private projects, which are defined in Annexes I and II. Its three amendments have been codified by DIRECTIVE 2011/92/EU of 13 December 2011. Directive 2011/92/EU has been amended in 2014 by DIRECTIVE 2014/52/EU (for detailed information please refer to Review of the EIA Directive)

The EIA procedure can be summarized as follows: the developer may request the competent authority to say what should be covered by the EIA information to be provided by the developer (scoping stage); the developer must provide information on the environmental impact (EIA report – Annex IV); the environmental authorities and the public (and affected Member States) must be informed and consulted; the competent authority decides, taken into consideration the results of consultations. The public is informed of the decision afterwards and can challenge the decision before the courts.