The on-line consultation meeting in relation to the Guidelines on the Application of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in a Transboundary Context in Armenia (the Guidelines) is organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Ministry of Environment of Armenia, within the framework of the EU-funded “EU4Environment” Programme. 

Meeting objectives, expected outputs and outcomes

Its overall aim is to discuss the extended outline of the Guidelines prepared by the international EIA consultants to UNECE. These Guidelines are being developed to assist national stakeholders in applying the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (‘the Convention’) and the respective national legislation. The Guidelines, which are recommendatory in nature, will contain step-by-step procedures in accordance with the Convention taking into account the relevant provisions of the updated legislation on EIA (Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and Expert Review), which is currently under adoption in Armenia.

The objectives of the expert consultation meeting are to:      

• clarify roles of various state and non-state actors in the EIA process, especially in relation to any transboundary procedures;
• discuss the extent to which procedural and substantial aspects of a transboundary EIA should be elaborated in the Guidelines;
• build understanding about the recent status of the updated national legislation on EIA and ensure its consideration in the Guidelines, as relevantly;
• discuss practical steps and arrangements for application of EIA in a transboundary context;
• identify needs for practical examples / templates and their use/presentation in the Guidelines; and
• discuss the content and level of detail of annexes to the Guidelines, etc.

Participants

The expert consultation meeting will be attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Environment of Armenia, UNECE project team (EU4Environment Project Manager and Programme Management Assistant), international EIA consultants, and national EIA consultant.