The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (informally called the Espoo Convention) is a

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE or UNECE) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and ...

(UNECE) convention signed in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärv ...

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, in 1991 that entered into force in 1997. The Convention sets out the obligations of Parties—that is States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention—to carry out an

environmental impact assessment Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...

of certain activities at an early stage of planning. It also lays down the general obligation of States to notify and consult each other on all major projects under consideration that are likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact across boundaries. As of April 2014, the treaty had been ratified by 44 states and the

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Amendments

The Convention has been amended twice. The first amendment was adopted in

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in 2001; it has entered into force 26 August 2014. It opens the Convention to accession upon approval by United Nations Member States that are not members of the UNECE. The second amendment was adopted in

Cavtat Cavtat (, it, Ragusa Vecchia, lit=Old Ragusa) is a village in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic Sea coast south of Dubrovnik and is the centre of the Konavle municipality. History Antiquity The original city wa ...

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, in 2004; as for the September 2016, it is not in force yet. Once in force it will: allow, as appropriate, affected Parties to participate in scoping; require reviews of compliance; revise the Convention's Appendix I (list of activities); and make other minor changes.

Procedure

The Convention involves a Party (or Parties) of origin (States where an activity is planned) and an affected Party (or Parties) (States whose territory may be significantly adversely affected by the activity). The Convention's main procedural steps are: * application of the Convention by the Party of origin (Art. 2.2, 2.5/App. I+III) * notification of the affected Party by the Party of origin (Art. 3.1) * confirmation of participation by the affected Party (Art. 3.3) * transmittal of information from the affected Party to the Party of origin (Art. 3.6) * public participation in the affected Party (Art. 3.8) * preparation of EIA documentation (Art. 4/App. II) * distribution of the EIA documentation for the purpose of participation of authorities and public of the affected Party (Art. 4.2) * consultation between the concerned Parties (Art. 5) * final decision by the Party of origin (Art. 6.1) * transmittal of final decision documentation to the affected Party (Art. 6.2) * post-project analysis (Art. 7.1/App. V)

Inquiry commissions

Article 3(7) of the Convention offers a procedure by which parties can solve differences by scientific, non-judicial means. The first case in which an inquiry commission was established under article 3(7) was that of the

Bystroe Canal The Deepwater Navigation Course "Danube – Black Sea" is a deep-water canal in the Danube Delta that runs through the Danube Delta distributaries Chilia, Old Istambul and "Bystroe". Through most of its length it coincides with the R ...

, at the request of Romania in 2004. A case which involved countries far apart on the globe was raised by

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, ...

, which claimed that the

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coal-fired plant at Prunerov was significantly affecting its climate due to

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Related issues

The Convention was also instrumental in the creation of Strategic Environmental Assessment and has been supplemented by a

Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technology ...

References

External links