SEA IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDTUSE PLANNING

Chapter 2The SEA Directive 2001/42/ECWith the introduction of the EU directive on the assessment of certain plans andprogrammes (2001/42/EC), the first binding international demands on StrategicEnvironmental Assessment were introduced 2 . All the 25 EU-member states, as well as thecountries subject to the Agreement of European Economic Area need to transpose thedirective into their national legislation.The introduction of the EU directive provides, for the countries concerned, a commondefinition of the aims of SEA and the main steps of the SEA process. The directive is,however, introduced into an already existing debate on the purpose and the role of SEA aswell as considerable experience of application of environmental assessment in its variousforms. Furthermore the directive is introduced to different legal and institutional contexts. Aswill be illustrated in the following chapters of the dissertation, the expectations of thepossible achievements of SEA cover a broad scope and correspond to different degrees tothe approach stipulated in the SEA directive.The importance of the directive as a leading European and even global document for thepractice of SEA has been highlighted in recent SEA publications (Dalal-Clayton and Sadler2005; Kläne and Albrecht 2005). However, the interpretation of SEA reflected in thedirective is not universally accepted as representative of the ruling paradigm with regard toSEA implementation, which is further exemplified in chapter 3. The directive has beendiscussed within the framework of the EU over the last 20 years and is a result of longnegotiations and bureaucratic processes, which also imply that the actors involved in theprocess struggled to reach unanimity in respect of its final contents. Furthermore, the endresult has been criticised for being vague in many respects and providing scope for numerousinterpretations (Dalal-Clayton and Sadler, 2005).This chapter provides a short introduction to the development of the contents andintroduction of the directive, followed by a presentation of its objectives and a review of howthe concept of planning is reflected in the directive. Finally the relation to other EC directivesis discussed.2.1 HistoryThe first mention of the need to establish strategic assessment within the EuropeanCommission dates back to 1975, before the time that the European Communities had2 Other international requirements include the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment - the 'SEAProtocol' signed in Kiev 200319