Within the framework of the EU-funded EU4Environment programme (2019 – 2022), UNECE - one of the EU4Envrionment partners - is assisting Azerbaijan in reviewing and providing recommendations for the alignment of its draft secondary implementing legislation – the Draft Regulation on Regulation and Duration for Conducting Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), including Transboundary Impact, and the Draft Regulation on Conducting Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) – with the international standards.

The Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and the Law on Making Changes to the Law on Environmental Protection adopted by Azerbaijan in 2018 provide an improved legal framework for  EIA and SEA with several areas still requiring further alignment with the international standards, in particular, with the provisions of the Convention on EIA in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) and its Protocol on SEA. Azerbaijan intends to address the remaining gaps vis-à-vis the Convention and the Protocol through secondary implementing legislation on EIA and SEA developed by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2019.

Together with the presentations of the draft regulations, results of the review, including concrete recommendations for how to align the secondary legislation fully with the Espoo Convention and its Protocol on SEA, formed the basis for discussions at the virtual Roundtable on the Development of Secondary Legislation on EIA and SEA in Azerbaijan that took place on 18 August 2020. The roundtable was organised by UNECE and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a part of the process of developing secondary legislation on EIA and SEA in Azerbaijan.

The main objectives of the meeting were to:

• present the results of the review and the recommendations regarding procedural schemes for the implementation of EIA, including transboundary EIA, and SEA to the relevant stakeholders and the public; 
• introduce to the relevant stakeholders and the public the new schemes for the implementation of EIA and SEA laid out in the draft regulations and the rationale for their introduction in light of the review and the recommendations by an international legal consultant; 
• support the finalization of the draft secondary regulations on EIA and SEA to be fully aligned with the Espoo Convention and its Protocol on SEA and harmonized with the EU SEA and EIA Directives.

The meeting gathered about 40 representatives of different government authorities and entities, NGOs and other interested stakeholders.

For further information please contact: Leonid Kalashnyk, Elena Kashina.

meeting documents

• Agenda
• Press release

 

About the EU4Environment Action 

Funded by the European Union, the aims to preserve and better use the natural capital, increase people’s environmental well-being and stimulate economic growth in six Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

background documents

• Country profile
• EU4Environment leaflet in Azerbaijani