6.

Staging the SEA process

The content of the SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) process is the assessment of the environmental and public health impact of strategies presented by public authorities, the strategic assessment procedure being regulated separately in Part 3 of EIA Act.

Nature of the SEA process

According to the law (Section 10a (1) letters (a) to (b) of EIA ACT), the subject of the strategic environmental and public health impact assessment (SEA) is always:

• A strategy that provides a framework for the future approval of plans assessed in the EIA process in the fields of agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing, surface or groundwater management, energy, industry, transport, waste management, telecommunications, tourism, land use planning, regional development, and environment, including nature (e.g. State Energy Policy and Territorial Energy Policies, Territorial Development Policy and Territorial Development Principles, Waste Management Plan of the Czech Republic and regions, Regional Development Strategy, Regional Development Plan).
• A strategy for which, pursuant to the opinion of the nature conservation authority, a significant impact on the subject of conservation or integrity of any Site of Community Importance (SCI) or Important Bird Area (IBA) under the Nature and Landscape Protection Act (indication of assessment in relation to a potential impact on the NATURA 2000 system) cannot be ruled out - for example, a land use plan, a community development program, or a water transport strategy).

The SEA process can be briefly described using the following sequence:

• Notification,
• Fact-Finding Procedure,
• Environmental report (SEA report and Draft plan or program),
• Statement on the Draft plan or program,
• Monitoring and Analysis of the Impacts of a plan or program on the Environment and Public Health

Strategy determining the use of a territory of local importance consisting of one or more municipality districts are assessed only on the basis of a decision made in the inquiry procedure (see below) - these are cases similar to the second point of the previous paragraph, without an indication of the impact on SCI and IBA. The same procedure (the decision on further assessment only on the basis of the inquiry procedure) applies to changes in all the above-mentioned strategies.

In this connection, let us mention the Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) bringing added value by taking into account the geographic distribution and the effects of policies in the context of the whole of Europe. The method is a complement to the EU regional policy. TIA contributes to a better understanding of the territorial impacts of policies and promotes better decision-making based on the selection of the best territorial solutions for the organization of the European area (at the level of regions, micro-regions, cities and specific areas). For more information see the lectures or website https://ec.europa.eu/.