Elements for the update of technical standards in the field of environmental assessment
This report contains technical and scientific elements for integration of technical standards in environmental assessment. The need of new technical standards for the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) lies in art. 34 of Legislative Decree no. 152/2006 and subsequent amendments.
The focus is both the review of the existing technical standards for EIA, still dictated by the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers far away on December 27, 1988, and the introduction of technical standards for SEA, not yet developed at national level.
ISPRA has cumulated a multi-year experience, both as technical and scientific support to the Technical Committee of environmental impact assessment of the Italian Ministry of Environment (MATTM) concerning EIA and SEA at national level, and as a competent subject in environmental matters and technical-scientific support to MATTM for SEA at regional level.
Regarding SEA, the contribution of this report is mainly related to the technical and scientific elements to be used in the preparation of documents related to the procedure: preliminary document for the screening phase, preliminary report and environmental report for the evaluation phase. The report contains also remarks on the purpose and contents of the environmental monitoring plan and on criteria for assessing the significance of impacts.
The contribution of this document to the EIA is organized as a set of elements for revision and editing of the present contents of the Environmental Reference Framework - Annex II of the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of 27 December 1988.
The hope is that this report be a useful tool for both EIA and SEA submitters and evaluators.
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