Introduction

Legal provisions for EIA exist since the issance of the Law on Environment of 1993. Since 2002 the environmental legislation in general and also the EIA legislation have been developed considerably. Amendments of the Law on Environmental Protection and the issuance of an EIA Law then also introduced SEA into legislation. SEA is strongly EIA-based and no more detailed regulations have been issued yet. In the process of disposing EU directives on environmental assessment in their environmental law, various Laws and regulations have recently been issued.

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Water Administration (MoEFWA) is the central EIA and SEA authority. Some EIA related tasks are delegated to Regional Environment Authorities (REAs).