Environmental impact in a transboundary context: approval of the first and second amendments to the UN/ECE Espoo Convention

PURPOSE: to approve the first and second amendment of the UN/ECE Espoo Convention.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

CONTENT:  in June 1997, the Community approved the UN/ECE Espoo Convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context. This Convention has been amended twice since then. The first amendment, adopted in 2001, alters the definition of the “public” in order to clarify that the public may participate in procedures under the Convention. The public includes civil society and non-governmental organisations in particular. It also opens the Convention to states from outside the UN/ECE Region.

The second amendment to the Convention allows affected Parties to participate in scoping, it revises the list of activities included in Appendix I of the Convention and addresses institutional issues under the Convention such compliance review, the powers of the Meeting of the Parties and the entry into force of amendments.

The purpose of this proposal, therefore, is to approve the first and second amendments to the UN/ECE Espoo Convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context.