Environmental Assessment Act ([RSBC 1996] Chapter 119).

This Act is composed of 8 parts, creating a legal framework for environmental impact assessment (EIA). Among the purposes of the Act, section 2 lists the following: to provide an open, accountable and neutrally administered process for the assessment of reviewable projects, and to activities that pertain to the environment and land use; to provide for participation by the public, proponents, first nations (native populations), local, provincial and federal government. The Act does not apply to "forest practice", as defined in the Forest Practices Code of B.C. (sect. 3). Whereas the Lieutenant Governor in Council has the power to make regulations prescribing what constitutes a reviewable project (sect. 3), the Minister has the power to designate a project as reviewable if satisfied that it has or may have a "significant adverse effect" and that it is in the public interest to do so (sect. 4), thus applying the precautionary principle. Persons must apply for Project Approval Certificates, issued by the competent Minister, before undertaking "reviewable projects". These will be examined by a Project Committee composed of representatives from the sectors mentioned above (sect. 9) and a Public Advisory Committee (at the discretion of the Executive Director of the Environmental Assessment Board). The rest of Part 2 elaborates the environmental assessment process. Guidelines for review and category assessment requirements (Part 3); Environmental Assessment Board (Part 4); Administration (Part 5); Sanctions (Part 6); General provisions (Part 7); Regulations and transitional provisions (Part 8).