Planning, building and the environment

The SEA Directive in Brief

The sea directive: 2001/42/ec on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment

European Directive 2001/42/EC, known as the 'Strategic Environmental Assessment' or 'SEA' Directive (although the Directive does not itself use this term), requires a formal environmental assessment of certain plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the environment. The Directive applies to plans and programmes whose preparation began on or after 21 July 2004, and also retroactively to those whose formal preparation began before this date but which have not been adopted, or submitted to a legislative procedure leading to adoption, by 21 July 2006.

Authorities which prepare and/or adopt a plan or programme that is subject to the Directive must prepare a report on its likely significant environmental effects, consult environmental authorities and the public, and take the report and the results of the consultation into account during the preparation process and before the plan or programme is adopted. They must also make information available on the plan or programme as adopted and how the environmental assessment was taken into account. Basic procedural and technical requirements are set out in the Directive, which Member States can choose to implement within their existing systems.

Environmental assessment is usually mandatory for plans and programmes

  • which are prepared for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, industry, transport, waste management, water management, telecommunications, tourism, town and country planning, or land use and which set the framework for future development consent for projects listed in Annexes I and II to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (85/337/EEC as amended by 97/11/EC)
  • requiring assessment under Article 6 or 7 of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC)

Outside this core scope, environmental assessment is required for any plans and programmes which set the framework for development consent of projects (not limited to those listed in the EIA Directive) and which are determined by screening to be likely to have significant environmental effects. Minor modifications to plans and programmes, and those for small areas at local level, are subject to assessment only where they are likely to have significant environmental effects. The Directive allows decisions on whether assessments are needed in these cases to be made either on a case-by-case basis or by categories of plan or programme.

The Directive also requires monitoring of the implementation of plans and programmes, inter alia to identify unforeseen adverse effects and to enable remedial action to be taken.

Certain plans and programmes including for national defence, civil emergencies, finance and budgets are excluded from the Directive, and policies are not covered.

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