New Environmental Impact Assessment Act Adopted
On 22 February 2005 the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) adopted the Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Management System Act. The aim of the new act is to bring the Estonian laws and regulations concerning environmental impact assessment into full harmony with Community law and to eliminate the shortfalls in the current act. The new act specifies the procedure and principles of environmental impact assessment, taking a broader and more in-depth approach to the issues of environmental impact assessment. Until the adoption of the new act environmental impact assessment in Estonia was not in compliance with Community law, especially as regards strategic environmental assessment. The new act makes strategic environmental assessment mandatory in the case of plans and national, county and local plans and programmes. The new act unambiguously states the cases, when environmental impact assessment is required. The procedure of
