Abstract

One of the Swedish EIA characteristics is the extensive use of EIA. Another feature is the proponents’ responsibility for the EIA process. The influence of authorities in the process is limited. No evaluations have been made of neither the quality of EIAs nor the EIA-process in Sweden since the Council Directive on environmental assessment was implemented in Swedish legislation in the 1990’s. However, several studies (the Swedish National Audit Office 1996, the Board of Housing and Planning 2003, Emmelin & Lerman 2004) have indicated that there might be some problems with the EIA quality and the EIA-process in Sweden. In order to investigate these possible problems a web-questionnaire was distributed by the Swedish EIA Centre in December 2005. The focus of the questionnaire was to investigate how proponents, consultants, decision-makers, reviewers and researchers consider the aim, function, quality and effective use of EIA. The questionnaire covered five areas i.e. aim, function, quality and actor relations. It was sent to approximately 1500 persons and 342 answers were received. The result of the questionnaire shows deficiencies in several areas, both concerning legislation and the application of the legislation as well as regarding competence and organisation matters

Keywords

EIA; environmental impact assessment; actor relations; quality

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