Decreto n.º 59/99

TEXTO :

Decreto n.º 59/99

de 17 de Dezembro

Considerando a necessidade de melhorar os mecanismos de avaliação dos impactes provocados no ambiente por determinados projectos públicos ou privados com relevantes efeitos transfronteiras;

Nos termos da alínea c) do n.º 1 do artigo 197.º da Constituição, o Governo aprova o seguinte decreto:

Artigo único

É aprovada a Convenção sobre a Avaliação dos Impactes Ambientais Num Contexto Transfronteiras, concluída em 25 de Fevereiro de 1991 em Espoo (Finlândia), no âmbito da Organização das Nações Unidas, e assinada por Portugal em 26 de Fevereiro de 1991, cujo texto original em inglês e respectiva tradução para português seguem em anexo ao presente decreto.

Visto e aprovado em Conselho de Ministros de 8 de Outubro de 1999. - António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres - Jaime José Matos da Gama - João Cardona Gomes Cravinho - Joaquim Augusto Nunes Pina Moura - Luís Manuel Capoulas Santos - Elisa Maria da Costa Guimarães Ferreira.

Assinado em 19 de Novembro de 1999.

Publique-se.

O Presidente da República, JORGE SAMPAIO.

Referendado em 25 de Novembro de 1999.

O Primeiro-Ministro, António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres.

CONVENTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN A TRANSBOUNDARY CONTEXT

The Parties to this Convention:

Aware of the interrelationship between economic activities and their environmental consequences;

Affirming the nead to ensure environmentally sound and sustainable development;

Determined to enhance international co-operation in assessing environmental impact in particular in a transboundary context;

Mindful of the need and importance to develop anticipatory policies and of preventing, mitigating and monitoring significant adverse environmental impact in general and more specifically in a transboundary context;

Recalling the relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the Declaration of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-Operation in Europe (CSCE) and the Concluding Documents of the Madrid and Vienna Meetings of Representatives of the Participating States of the CSCE;

Commending the ongoing activities of States to ensure that, through their national legal and administrative provisions and their national policies, environmental impact assessment is carried out;

Conscious of the need to give explicit consideration to environmental factors at an early stage in the decision-making process by applying environmental impact assessment, at all appropriate administrative levels, as a necessary tool to improve the quality of information presented to decision makers so that environmentally sound decisions can be made paying careful attention to minimizing significant adverse impact, particularly in a transboundary context;

Mindful of the efforts of international organisations to promote the use of environmental impact assessment both at the national and international levels, and taking into account work on environmental impact assessment carried out under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, in particular results achieved by the Seminar on Environmental Impact Assessment (September 1987, Warsaw, Poland) as well as noting the Goals and Principles on environmental impact assessment adopted by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Ministerial Declaration on Sustainable Development (May 1990, Bergen, Norway);

have agreed as follows:

Article 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Convention:

ii) «Party of origin» means the Contracting Party or Parties to this Convention under whose jurisdiction a proposed activity is envisaged to take place;

iii) «Affected Party» means the Contracting Party or Parties to this Convention likely to be affected by the transboundary impact of a proposed activity;

iv) «Concerned Parties» means the Party of origin and the affected Party of an environmental impact assessment pursuant to this Convention;

vi) «Environmental impact assessment» means a national procedure for evaluating the likely impact of a proposed activity on the environment;

vii) «Impact» means any effect caused by a proposed activity on the environment including human health and safety, flora, fauna, soil, air, water, climate, landscape and historical monuments or other physical structures or the interaction among these factors, it also includes effects on cultural heritage or socio-economic conditions resulting from alterations to those factors;

viii) «Transboundary impact» means any impact, not exclusively of a global nature, within an area under the jurisdiction of a Party caused by a proposed activity the physical origin of which is situated wholly or in part within the area under the jurisdiction of another Party;

ix) «Competent authority» means the national authority or authorities designated by a Party as responsible for performing the tasks covered by this Convention and/or the authority or authorities entrusted by a Party with decision-making powers regarding a proposed activity;

Article 2

General provisions

1 - The Parties shall, either individually or jointly, take all appropriate and effective measures to prevent, reduce and control significant adverse transboundary environmental impact from proposed activities.

2 - Each Party shall take the necessary legal, administrative or other measures to implement the provisions of this Convention, including, with respect to proposed activities listed in appendix I that are likely to cause significant adverse transboundary impact, the establishment of an environmental impact assessment procedure that permits public participation and preparation of the environmental impact assessment documentation described in appendix II.

3 - The Party of origin shall ensure that in accordance with the provisions of this Convention an environmental impact assessment is undertaken prior to a decision to authorise or undertake a proposed activity listed in appendix I that is likely to cause a significant adverse transboundary impact.

4 - The Party of origin shall, consistent with the provisions of this Convention, ensure that affected Parties are notified of a proposed activity listed in appendix I that is likely to cause a significant adverse transboundary impact.

5 - Concerned Parties shall, at the initiative of any such Party, enter into discussions on whether one or more proposed activities not listed in appendix I is or are likely to cause a significant adverse transboundary impact and thus should be treated as if it or they were so listed. Where those Parties so agree, the activity or activities shall be thus treated. General guidance for identifying criteria to determine significant adverse impact is set forth in appendix III.

6 - The Party of origin shall provide, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, an opportunity to the public in the areas likely to be affected to participate in relevant environmental impact assessment procedures regarding proposed activities and shall ensure that the opportunity provided to the public of the affected Party is equivalent to that provided to the public of the Party of origin.

7 - Environmental impact assessments as required by this Convention shall, as a minimum requirement, be undertaken at the project level of the proposed activity. To the extent appropriate, the Parties shall endeavour to apply the principles of environmental impact assessment to policies, plans and programmes.

8 - The provisions of this Convention shall not affect the right of Parties to implement national laws, regulations, administrative provisions or accepted legal practices protecting information the supply of which would be prejudicial to industrial and commercial secrecy or national security.

9 - The provisions of this Convention shall not affect the right of particular Parties to implement, by bilateral or multilateral agreement where appropriate, more stringent measures than those of this Convention.

10 - The provisions of this Convention shall not prejudice any obligations of the Parties under international law with regard to activities having or likely to have a transboundary impact.

Article 3

Notification

1 - For a proposed activity listed in appendix I that is likely to cause a significant adverse transboundary impact, the Party of origin shall, for the purposes of ensuring adequate and effective consultations under article 5, notify any Party which it considers may be an affected Party as early as possible and no later than when informing its own public about that proposed activity.

2 - This notification shall contain, inter alia:

and may include the information set out in paragraph 5 of this article.

3 - The affected Party shall respond to the Party of origin within the time specified in the notification, acknowledging receipt of the notification, and shall indicate whether it intends to participate in the environmental impact assessment procedure.

4 - If the affected Party indicates that it does not intend to participate in the environmental impact assessment procedure, or if it does not respond within the time specified in the notification, the provisions in paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 8 of this article and in articles 4 to 7 will not apply. In such circumstances the right of a Party of origin to determine whether to carry out an environmental impact assessment on the basis of its national law and practice is not prejudiced.

5 - Upon receipt of a response from the affected Party indicating its desire to participate in the environmental impact assessment procedure, the Party of origin shall, if it has not already done so, provide to the affected Party:

6 - An affected Party shall, at the request of the Party of origin, provide the latter with reasonably obtainable information relating to the potentially affected environment under the jurisdiction of the affected Party, where such information is necessary for the preparation of the environmental impact assessment documentation. The information shall be furnished promptly and, as appropriate, through a joint body where one exists.

7 - When a Party considers that it would be affected by a significant adverse transboundary impact of a proposed activity listed in appendix I, and when no notification has taken place in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article, the concerned Parties shall, at the request of the affected Party, exchange sufficient information for the purposes of holding discussions on whether there is likely to be a significant adverse transboundary impact. If those Parties agree that there is likely to be a significant adverse transboundary impact, the provisions of this Convention shall apply accordingly. If those Parties cannot agree whether there is likely to be a significant adverse transboundary impact, any such Party may submit that question to an inquiry commission in accordance with the provisions of appendix IV to advise on the likelihood of significant adverse transboundary impact, unless they agree on another method of settling this question.

8 - The concerned Parties shall ensure that the public of the affected Party in the areas likely to be affected be informed of, and be provided with possibilities for making comments or objections on, the proposed activity, and for the transmittal of these comments or objections to the competent authority of the Party of origin, either directly to this authority or, where appropriate, through the Party of origin.

Article 4

Preparation of the environmental impact assessment documentation

1 - The environmental impact assessment documentation to be submitted to the competent authority of the Party of origin shall contain, as a minimum, the information described in appendix II.

2 - The Party of origin shall furnish the affected Party, as appropriate through a joint body where one exists, with the environmental impact assessment documentation. The concerned Parties shall arrange for distribution of the documentation to the authorities and the public of the affected Party in the areas likely to be affected and for the submission of comments to the competent authority of the Party of origin, either directly to this authority or, where appropriate, through the Party of origin within a reasonable time before the final decision is taken on the proposed activity.

Article 5

Consultations on the basis of the environmental impact assessment documentation

The Party of origin shall, after completion of the environmental impact assessment documentation, without undue delay enter into consultations with the affected Party concerning, inter alia, the potential transboundary impact of the proposed activity and measures to reduce or eliminate its impact. Consultations may relate to:

The Parties shall agree at the commencement of such consultations, on a reasonable time-frame for the duration of the consultation period. Any such consultations may be conducted through an appropriate joint body, where one exists.

Article 6

Final decision

1 - The Parties shell ensure that, in the final decision on the proposed activity, due account is taken of the outcome of the environmental impact assessment including the environmental impact assessment documentation, as well as the comments thereon received pursuant to article 3, paragraph 8, and article 4, paragraph 2, and the outcome of the consultations as referred to in article 5.

2 - The Party of origin shall provide to the affected Party the final decision on the proposed activity along with the reasons and considerations on which it was based.

3 - If additional information on the significant transboundary impact of a proposed activity, which was not available at the time a decision was made with respect to that activity and which could have materially affected the decision becomes available to a concerned Party before work on that activity commences, that Party shell immediately inform the other concerned Party or Parties. If one of the concerned Parties so requests, consultations shall be held as to whether the decision needs to be revised.

Article 7

Post-project analysis

1 - The concerned Parties, at the request of any such Party, shall determine whether, and if so to what extent, a post-project analysis shall be carried out, taking into account the likely significant adverse transboundary impact of the activity for which an environmental impact assessment has been undertaken pursuant to this Convention. Any post-project analysis undertaken shall include, in particular, the surveillance of the activity and the determination of any adverse transboundary impact. Such surveillance and determination may be undertaken with a view to achieving the objectives listed in appendix V.

2 - When, as a result of post-project analysis, the Party of origin or the affected Party has reasonable grounds for concluding that there is a significant adverse transboundary impact or factors have been discovered which may result in such an impact, it shall immediately inform the other Party. The concerned Parties shall then consult on necessary measures to reduce or eliminate the impact.

Article 8

Bilateral and multilateral co-operation

The Parties may continue existing or enter into new bilateral or multilateral agreements or other arrangements in order to implement their obligations under this Convention. Such agreements or other arrangements may be based on the elements listed in appendix VI.

Article 9

Research programmes

The Parties shall give special consideration to the setting up, or intensification of, specific research programmes aimed at: