Eighth Seminar of Cooperation on the Espoo Convention in the Baltic Sea Region

With a view to promoting cooperation and synergies among the legal instruments, the seminar discussed the following themes:

1) Assessment and reduction of transboundary impacts on transboundary watercourses and international lakes in the context of the Espoo Convention, its Protocol on SEA and the UNECE Water Convention; and the UN Watercourses Convention;
2) Effective public participation in SEA and EIA in the context of the Espoo Convention, the Protocol on SEA and the Aarhus Convention.

Document Title

Agenda	ENG
List of participants
Report	ENG
Presentations
*Monday, 28th September*
Work on EIA Convention and SEA-Protocol	ENG
Case studies (country reports) on transboundary EIAs and SEA
- Poland	ENG	ENG
- Latvia	ENG
- Sweden	ENG
- Finland	ENG
- Germany	ENG
- Lithuania	ENG
The Rail Baltica project in the Baltic States–state of play:
Construction of the European standard gauge public railway infrastructure line in Latvia	ENG
European standard railway line Kaunas - Lithuanian/Latvian state border (Rail Baltica 2)	ENG
The Rail Baltic Project in Estonia, State of play	ENG
The role of Espoo-consultations in a communicative world – A Marine Spatial Planning example from Sweden and the Baltic Sea Region (Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management)	ENG
Assessment and reduction of transboundary impacts on transboundary watercourses and international lakes in the context of the Espoo Convention, the Protocol on SEA and the Helsinki Convention: - The international dimension of the EU water policy. Links between the Espoo Convention and the UN Watercourses Convention	ENG
- Relationships between Espoo and Helsinki Conventions - Special focus on Finland-Russia boundary (Freshwater Centre Finnish Environment Institute)	ENG
- Transboundary water co-operation between Lithuania and neighbouring countries according to Helsinki Convention and bilateral agreements	ENG
*Tuesday, 29th September*
Effective public participation in SEA/EIA in the context of the Espoo Convention, the Protocol on SEA and the Aarhus: - Public participation in the context of transboundary EIA/SEA: main concepts and the case law of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee	ENG
- Public participation in the light of Espoo and Aarhus conventions: the practice of Lithuanian courts (Law Application Division, MoE of Lithuania) (TBC)	ENG
Case studies on transboundary EIAs and SEAs (continues)
EIA of the Balticconector offshore gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia (Finland)	ENG
AOB: - Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 amending Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (transposition – state of play) - coordinated and/or joint procedures with assessment under Birds and/or Habitats Directives (Directive 92/43/EEC and Directive 2009/147/EC)