Resource information
These Regulations implement the requirements of the Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by 2014/52/EU for environmental impact assessment procedures in the context of the nationally significant infrastructure regime which extends to England and Wales and for limited purposes to Scotland. To the extent that these Regulations implement the Directive in relation to this regime, they extend to Wales and Scotland. The main changes from the 2009 Regulations are: —to the circumstances in which a project may be exempt from the EIA process; —the introduction of co-ordinated procedures for projects which are also subject to assessment under Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora or Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conservation of Wild Birds; — to the list of environmental factors to be considered as part of the EIA process; — to the information to be provided to inform a screening decision and the criteria to be applied when making a screening decision; — to the way in which an environmental statement is to be prepared, including an amendment to the information to be included in it, the introduction of a requirement that it be based upon a scoping opinion (where one has been obtained) and a requirement that it be prepared by a competent expert; — to the means by which the public is to be informed of projects which are subject to the EIA process; and — a requirement for decision-makers to avoid conflicts of interest.
Implements: Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment. (2014-04-16)
Repeals: Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2009 (S.I. No. 2263 of 2009). (2009-09-01)
