Finland’s experience in implementing and applying the Espoo Convention Seija Rantakallio Councellor Moscow, 21 September

2 Espoon Convention  Finland ratified 1995  Agreement has entered into force 1997 – Party to the Convention can participate into other Party’s environmental impact assessment procedure (EIA)  Finland-Estonia bilateral EIA-agreement 2002 – Application of Convention between Finland and Estonia  Negotiations on bilateral EIA agreement with Russian Federation in 1990s

3 Party in two different roles Ministry of the Environment is the competent authority of Espoo Convention  Party of Origin  Affected Party Finland Party Likely significant adverse transboundary environmental impact

4 Finland as a Party of Origin  Finland – Sends a notification to potentially affected party about the project and its environmental impact – Sends EIA documentation on transboundary impact to affected party and gives a possibility for consultations – Gives a possibility to affected party’s public and authorities to participate in the Finnish EIA –similar opportunities as nationally – Takes the comments from affected party into account in the national EIA – Sends final decision

5 Espoo procedure when Party of Origin Finland Point of Contact for notification Ministry of the Environment Affected Party Point of Contact for notification EIA programme EIA documenta- tion Final decision Notification Comments For comments

6 PoO -notification phase EIA programme =Scoping document Includes e.g. -what impacts are expected in the affected party -planned studies to assess likely transboundary environmental impact in the affected party -relevant parts of programme in affected party’s language

7 EIA notification phase and Espoo Convention EIA programme Ministry of the Environment Affected Parties Submits info to MoE Announcement Public hearing DeveloperEIA competent authority Notification Answer on participation and comments on programme Submits answers to EIA competent authority Gives statement on adequacy of programme Takes into consideration when drafting the EIA report (documentation) Point of Contact for Espoo

8 PoO –EIA documentation phase EIA documentation Includes e.g. -likely transboundary environmental impact in affected party -given comments on the programme taken into account -translation of relevat parts in the affected party’s language

9 Finland as Affected Party Ministry of the Environment -announcement in newspaper -press release -documents for public display and for comments…in Finnish and in Swedish -request for statements and opinions from authorities and NGOs -answer to PoO (willingness to participate on EIA, comments on the adequacy of EIA) Notification EIA documentation

10 Agreement on practical arrangements for Espoo procedure between points of contact Finland Point of Contact for notification Ministry of the Environment Affected Party Point of Contact for notification -inform about timing of notification and documentation and dead line for answer -agree on timing and ways of public participation -translation of documents Early contacts

11 Application of Espoo in Finland  Party of Origin and Affected Party several times – Ongoing processes and more expected  PoO: -two new nuclear power plant units -> neighbours + Baltic Sea subregion  AP: -Ignalina nuclear power plant, Lithuania -Narva power plant, Estonia -Offshore wind farm, Estonia -Offshore wind farm, Sweden  PoO+AP -Nord Stream gas pipeline

12 Cooperation between Finland and Russian Federation under Espoo Convention  Finland has notified Russia – Imatra power plant 1996 – Final disposal of used nuclear fuel 1998 – New nuclear power plant unit to Loviisa 1998 – Waste water treatment plant in Lappeenranta 2006 – Nord Stream gas pipeline 2006 – New nuclear power plant unit to Olkiluoto 2007 – New nuclear power plant unit to Loviisa 2007  Russia has notified Finland – Ust-Luga multipurpose harbour terminal 2003 – Nord Stream gas pipeline 2006  How to treat projects with likely significant transboundary impact in the future?