Environmental Dialogue between of Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and the European

Commission, DG Environment

Workshop on The Espoo Convention and the Russian Federation; opportunities and challenges

(Friday, 21 September 2007 Moscow, Hotel Golden Ring, Hall Sergiev Posad)

Impact of the Espoo Convention in domestic legislation and practices

Francesco La Camera Scientific Director of Sicilian Observatory for the

Environment - ORSA – www.orsanet.it

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The Legislative framework

Italian Ratification of Espoo Convention : Law n. 640/94, 3 November 1994

EU law on Environmental Impact Assessment : Directive on EIA (85/337, amended by 97/11 and by 2003/35)

Decree 3 April 2006, n. 152: Environmental Law (art. 11 and 39 deals with the Convention)

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Cases

Croatia: 4 cases (3 sea pipelines for the transport of gas; 1 installation for the gasification)

Switzerland: 4 cases (1 overhead electrical power line; 1 railway tunnel – Aosta - Martigny; 1 dam; 1 waste disposal installation)

Slovenia: 6 cases ( 3 thermal power stations, 2 installations for the gasification, 1 railway)

France: 2 cases ( 1 railway Turin - Lyon, 1 railways tunnel - Frejus -)

Austria: 2 cases ( 1railway tunnel – Brennero -, 1 overhead electrical power line)

17 procedures (1 involving Italy, Slovenia and Croatia). In 8 cases are common projects

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Notification – SEA procedure(only for EU member states) Notification has to be done before the adoption of

the plan or program and include all SEA documentation. The opinion by the affected Party is to be provided within 60 days after the notification. The timing is extended up to 90 days when, within 30 days following the notification, the affected party inform about its intention to organize public consultation.

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Notification – EIA procedure:

Notification has to be done before the adoption of the project. It include a description of the project and information about the nature if the decision to be taken.

In 30 days the affected Party inform about its intention to participate. In case it intend to participate all EIA documentation need to be sent. The opinion by the affected Party is to be provided within 30 days. The timing is extended up to 90 days when the affected party inform about its intention to organize public consultation.

In 5 cases the potentially affected parties ha expressed not interest to participate

In 1 case we have requested to be informed as affected Party.

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Notification: focal point or joint body?

The Italy-Croatia cooperation. Bilateral agreement in1998: Joint Body established in order to deal with all projects falling under the scope of the Convention.

Objectives:

- facilitate the exchange of information,

co-ordinate the internal procedures,

settle other procedural issues.

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Consultations

Consultations relating to the coordination of the EIA national procedures take place at the very early stage of the procedure.

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EIA documentation

The environmental information is related to whole project, i.e. environmental impacts in both countries. It is collected by the proponent

The proponent will provide for the translation of the Eia documentation. Usually the main designs of the projects and the summary of the EIA documentation

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Public Participation and consultation

Each Country carries out public consultation according to its national legislation. This consultation is referred also to trans-boundary impacts produced on its territory by the project located on the territory of the other country. The affected Party inform the Party of origin about the results of this consultation.

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Decision

Final decision is taken according to our internal EIA procedure. It take into account all comments received, included the comments of the public of the other Country.

In particular, in case of common projects, before the final decision on the proposed activity is taken, focal points usually meet to exchange the final results and discuss about it in order to try to arrive at e coherent decision They may identify common elements to be included into the final decision (e.g. environmental monitoring, possible measures to mitigate relevant impact and environmental compensation measures. ).

The final decision, including related reasons and considerations, is sent to the affected Party.

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Impact on internal EIA procedure

The timing of internal EIA procedure may be extended up to 90 days. In practice the transboundary procedure may be conducted in parallel.

Relevant costs for the EIA documentation translation and other have to be covered by the proponent. So no additional cost for the administration.

The number of cases is very short and limited to very large or common projects

Optimization of the functioning and costs of the monitoring

Exchange of experiences and methods and improving of internal practices