Comparative practice - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 320

legislation. EIA in the Netherlands, as in the UK, is required by EC Directive 85/337
amended by Directive 97/11. It is implemented through the Environmental Management
Act and the EIA Decree 1994 as amended by the Decree of 7 May 1999. EIA is required
for all projects in Annex I of the Directives, and on a case-by-case basis for Annex II
projects that exceed specified exclusion thresholds: these thresholds are generally quite
high compared with those of other Member States (CEC 2003). In addition, SEA has
been required for sectoral plans on waste management, the supply of drinking water,
energy and electricity and some land-use plans since 1987.
Figure 10.4 summarizes the Dutch EIA procedures. Once a (public or private)
developer decides to carry out an activity that requires EIA, they prepare a “notification
of intent” with a brief description of the proposed project, they inform the competent
authority and the competent authority makes the “notification of intent” public. The
public and advisers—notably the EIA Commission 1 —have four weeks to comment to the
competent authority on what should be in the EIS guidelines: this is the scoping stage.
Within 13 weeks of the “notification of intent”, the competent authority must produce
formal EIS guidelines for the action, specifying the alternatives and the main
environmental impacts that the EIS must address.
Figure 10.4 The Netherlands' EIA
procedures.
The developer is responsible for preparing the EIS, which must include:
• a statement of the purpose and reason for the activity;