Ministerial Joint Decree No. 107017 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment in compliance with Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.

This Decree aims at harmonizing the Greek legislation to the provisions of Directive 2001/42/EC, so as to enable, in the context of a sustainable development, the integration of the environmental dimension to plans and programmes prior to their adoption, through the enactment of the necessary measures, conditions and procedures for the evaluation of the effects, which these programmes and plans may have on the environment, in order to promote the sustainable development and a high-level protection of the environment. Article 2 provides certain definitions for the purposes of the present Decree. Article 3 sets forth the field of application of the Decree. The Strategic Environmental Assessment ( . . . in Greek) shall be done prior to the approval of a plan or a programme or the initiation of the relevant legislative procedure. Among these plans or programmes the following are included: programmes or plans prepared for one or more of the sectors of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, industry, transport, waste management, water management, telecommunications, tourism, town and country planning or land use, and which set the framework for future development consent of projects and activities listed in Annex I (tables 1-10) of the first (A ) category (subcategories 1 and 2) of the Joint Ministerial Decision 15393/2332/2002, as well as all plans and programmes, which are implemented, in whole or in part, in areas of the national section of the European Ecologic Network Natura 2000 (Sites of Community Interest SCIs- and Special Protection Areas SPAs), which may affect them significantly. Every plan or programme shall undergo a procedure of environmental pre-assessment, so as to enable the competent authority to decide whether the plan or programme may have significant effects to the environment, and must, consequently, undergo a Strategic Environmental Assessment (hereinafter SEA). Article 5 provides in detail the procedure of environmental pre-assessment. Article 6 deals with the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA). In the event that a SEA is deemed necessary, the planning authority shall carry out a Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (hereinafter SEIA), wherein the possible significant effects, which the implementation of the plan or programme may have to the environment, shall be presented, described and assessed, as well as all reasonable alternative solutions. The procedure for the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA procedure) is described in article 7. The plans or programmes, which may have significant effects to the environment, shall undergo a SEA procedure, which constitutes a requirement for the approval of the relevant plan or programme or for the initiation of the relevant legislative procedure. During the SEA procedure of the plan or programme, a public consultation procedure shall be carried out with the participation of the public authorities and the interested public. The transboundary consultations are described in article 8. In the event that the competent Environment Service of the Ministry of the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works ( . . . in Greek) considers that the implementation of a plan or programme may have significant effects to the environment of another Member State of the European Union or when an EU Member State makes a relevant request, the aforementioned authority, prior to the approval or rejection of the SEIA, shall provide to the interested Member State as soon as possible a copy of the file of the relevant SEIA and shall invite that Member State to participate in the SEA procedure by giving an opinion on the SEIA of that plan or programme, within a reasonable time limit. Article 9 is sets the competent bodies for monitoring the effects. The planning authority, as well as any Environment Service competent to monitor environmental media and parameters in its field, shall monitor, in accordance with the decision to approve the SEIA of the plan or programme, the important environmental effects of its implementation, in order to identify at an early stage unforeseen adverse effects and take the appropriate remedial measures. In addition to the text of the Decision, certain annexes are included in article 11, which form an integral part of the present decree. Annex I refers to plans and programmes, for which it is required to carry out a strategic environmental assessment. Annex II refers to the plans and programmes, which undergo a procedure of environmental pre-assessment. Annex III lays down the content of the strategic environmental impact assessments and Annex IV provides for the contents of the file of an environmental pre-assessment procedure.