
Experience, not only in Poland, in the field of environmental impact assessments shows that consultations conducted throughout the process of developing the EIA report and implementing its findings are an important factor in the usefulness of this procedure in the decision-making process. Failure to consult often leads to conflicts with local communities, resulting in additional work, delays in obtaining decisions and implementing the project or additional costs.
A convenient stage to initiate consultation may be to establish the scale and scope of the assessment. This is the point at which the developer can consult informally with the local community concerned.
The subject of consultation may be optional:
An extended public consultation process should allow for a diverse range of opinions to be gathered:
Consultation on the initiative of the developer or the authors of the EIA report is optional, which does not mean that in many cases it does not contribute to a satisfactory conclusion of the decision-making process. Irrespective of whether or not informal consultations have taken place during the EIA procedure , formal consultations must take place after the EIA report has been completed and submitted to the competent authorities. It is the duty of the authorities to effectively inform the public (not only the local community) about the receipt of the EIA report and about the place and time when the contents of the report can be examined. It is also necessary to inform about the ways and the deadline for submitting comments, opinions. Consultation of the authors of the EIA report with representatives of the relevant authorities and administrative and self-government bodies usually takes place as part of the assessment procedure.
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