Opinions of the Implementation Committee (Espoo Convention and its Protocol on SEA) (2001–2020)

 Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) was adopted in Espoo (Finland) in 1991 and entered into force in 1997. The Meeting of the Parties to the Convention established an Implementation Committee in 2001 for the review of compliance by the Parties with their obligations under the Convention with a view to assisting them fully to meet their commitments (ECE/MP.EIA/4, annex IV, decision II/4).

The Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment was adopted in Kyiv (Ukraine) in 2003 and entered into force in 2010. With the entry into force of the Protocol, the Committee’s mandate was extended to review compliance under the Protocol as well (ECE/MP.EIA/SEA/2, decision V/6–I/6).

The purpose of this document is to aid Parties to the Convention and the Protocol in their compliance with their obligations, noting that “compliance concerns both legal implementation and practical application” (ECE/MP.EIA/10, decision IV/2 (review of compliance), annex II, para. 24). The document largely comprises direct quotations of the opinions and recommendations of the Implementation Committee in the period from 2001 to 2020 (the Committee’s 48 sessions as of the MOPs in 2020), as expressed in the reports of its sessions (see table below), in its findings and recommendations subsequent to either a submission or a Committee initiative (annexed to the reports of the individual sessions), and as modified by the Meeting of the Parties in its decisions.