Brussels, 23/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - On 21 July, the European directive on the strategic assessment of the impact of various plans and programmes on the environment (SEA) will enter into force. According to the Commission, "European citizens will from now on be able to have more influence on decisions which will affect their environment".
Local waste management plans and regional road-building plans, for instance, will be covered by the "SEA" directive. It will also be applied to town planning, water management, tourism, industry and energy. When plans or programmes covered by the directive are in the planning stage, the public authorities will put together a report to determine, describe and assess their possible impact on the environment, especially their effects on biodiversity, fauna and flora, soil and water, climatic factors, the countryside and human health. The SEA directive will allow everybody to express his or her opinion on the environmental report, and on the draft plan or programme. The "SEA" directive, therefore, comes at an earlier stage in the decision-making process than the one requiring an environmental assessment impact of various public and private plans (the 1985 "EIA" directive), and will, according to the Commission, "allow for alternative solutions and their environmental effects to be considered systematically in order to identify the most environmentally sound alternative".
Currently, only 9 of the 25 Member States have notified the Commission of the completed transposition process of the "SEA" directive. These are: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. Most of the other Member States, however, have indicated that transposition is well underway. The Commission has prepared guidelines on how to apply the SEA directive. These can be consulted at http: //europa.eu.int/comm/environment/eia/home.htl.