Brussels proposes to overhaul laws on environmental impact assessments

The European Commission has put forward proposals for a comprehensive overhaul of the legislation on environmental impact assessments and vowed to provide greater legal certainty.

The changes would see the adjustment of the procedure that determines whether an environmental assessment is needed.

“This will ensure that only projects with significant environmental impacts are subject to such an assessment,” the Commission said. “Projects adapted to reduce their impacts and small–scale projects with local impacts should be approved more swiftly at lower cost, leaving authorities more time to focus on assessments of major projects with large-scale environmental impacts.”

Brussels also plans to strengthen the rules to ensure better decision-making and avoid environmental damage.

It said: “Ιmpacts from alternative proposals will need more systematic consideration, and competent authorities will need to explain the reasons behind their decisions more clearly.”

The various stages of the EIA process will be streamlined as well. This is to be achieved by introducing timeframes and a new mechanism to ease the process when several assessments are required and several authorities involved.

“These changes will bring more legal certainty and accelerate the process, without compromising the quality of the assessment,” the Commission insisted.

Brussels claimed that its proposals would lighten administrative burdens and make it easier to assess the potential impacts of major projects, “without weakening existing environmental safeguards”.

The Commission added that the changes would be forward-looking and deal with emerging challenges in areas such as resource efficiency, climate change, biodiversity and disaster prevention.

The proposals in the directive will now go before the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. They will become EU law when the text is agreed.

Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "For the past 25 years, the EIA Directive has helped ensure that environmental considerations are integrated into decision-making for projects. This has improved the sustainability of countless projects, while also empowering citizens and ensuring that they are informed and consulted before decisions are made.

"But loopholes need to be fιxed, in particular concerning the quality of the assessment process, to make sure that projects that will affect the environment are properly assessed."

More information on the proposals for the directive can be found here.