Introducing strategic environmental assessment in Serbia with special reference to the European Union directive and infrastructure corridors

In July 2001, the European Union (EU) adopted the Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 27 June 2001 on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment, known as the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive. The EU countries will have three years, until July 2004, for the integration of the SEA Directive into national laws. The SEA Directive introduces procedural and technical requirements, according to which environmental assessment is compulsory for certain plans and programs but not for policies, except if they are a part of a plan, as well for plans and programs of national defence, civil emergencies, finance and budgets. According to the scope of the SEA Directive, environmental assessment is compulsory for plans and programs for infrastructure corridors – transport, telecommunication and energy systems. In addition to the overview of the general framework for Strategic Environmental Assessment and the main requirements of the SEA Directive, the current situation in Serbia regarding the present condition of SEA is presented with special reference to the infrastructure corridors. One of the conclusions of this paper is that the main limitation for the implementation of SEA for plans and programs covering infrastructure corridors is the current legal situation. The main law which is supposed to introduce SEA has not been adopted yet, while the scope of the SEA within the new Planning and Construction Act includes SEA only for urban plans and does not cover, among others, plans for infrastructure corridors