Stages of the EIA procedure

There are two stages in the EIA procedure: the EIA programme is first completed and the environmental impact assessment report is drawn up on the basis of the programme.

The EIA procedure sets out with the compilation of an environmental impact assessment programme (EIA programme). The EIA programme is a written plan indicating the types of environmental impacts that will be investigated and how the EIA procedure will be organised.

The programme is submitted to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, which will request statements on it from the municipalities affected by the project and from different authorities. Finnish citizens and corporations, too, have a chance to express their opinions about the programme. The Ministry of the Environment presents the project to the authorities of the Baltic coastal states and Finland’s neighbouring states. The authorities will then organise the hearing of their own citizens and issue statements. According to law, the duration of this hearing period shall be 30-60 days. Based on the issued statements and opinions, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy will issue its own statement on the EIA programme.

An environmental impact assessment report will then be issued, based on the EIA programme and the statements issued on it. The assessment report is delivered to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, which will collect the opinions of different parties and statements of other authorities during the hearing period and issue its own statement.

After the Ministry’s statement, a decision-in-principle can be applied for in the project whose environmental impacts were assessed. The environmental impact assessment report forms an enclosure to the application for a decision-in-principle.