EIA procedure – project qualification (4)

An environmental impact assessment procedure for a project planned by an investor is carried out whenever significant environmental impact is reasonably likely. This concerns both new investments, and the expansion or serious modernisation of existing ones, involving e.g. a change to technology.

There is no country subjecting all proposed projects to EIA procedures. Although most of them require analysing and taking into consideration the environmental aspects of their operation, it does not mean that they should undergo a formal EIA procedure. This concerns, most of all, investments that due to their size, scale, manufacturing processes, manufacturing technology, etc. are well recognized and their impact is easy to limit or minimise.

Only those projects that have been deemed projects that could significantly impact the environment, as per European Union Directives, require environmental impact assessment. In general, European law, as well as international financial institutions' guidelines introduce classification into two or more categories. The first category includes those types of projects for which an environmental impact report is always mandatory. These are the so-called group one project ( Annex 1 of the EIA Directive). The second group comprises projects for which an EIA report may be required by an administrative authority relevant for issuing a permit for a given project execution (group two projects – Annex 2 of EIA Directive).

The preliminary qualification of a planned enterprise is done by the investor – in accordance with European Union EIA Directive. The action that is supposed to determine whether it is necessary to carry out EIA on the basis of the report is called screening. The decision to carry out an assessment procedure on the basis of an EIA report with public participation is issued by a relevant administrative authority, taking into account various factors and criteria. The most common ones include:

• sensitivity of the environment in the area where the investment is to be located (how close it is located to protected areas, wetlands, health resorts, valuable monuments, etc.),
• sensitivity of receptors of potential impact at the execution and operation stages of the investment, e.g. water intakes, hospitals, etc.,
• likelihood of cumulative impacts as a result of associated investments (e.g. access roads, power lines),
• duration of impact, its reversibility,
• strong social interest in this particular type of investment or the land on which it is to be located.