The Law on Environmental Impact Assessment ("Official Gazette of the RS," No. 94/2024) and the Law on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment ("Official Gazette of the RS," No. 94/2024) entered into force on 6 December 2024.
These laws were enacted to achieve greater alignment of national regulations with relevant European Union directives in the field of environmental protection – Directive 2011/92/EU, as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU, and Directive 2001/42/EC. Their implementation shall bring significant changes to environmental protection regulations, aiming to improve protection, enhance public participation, and increase administrative efficiency.
Ecological Network Area
A common feature of both the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and the Law on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment ("the Laws") is the introduction of new terms such as "ecological network" and "acceptability for the ecological network," enabling more precise alignment with the Law on Nature Protection ("Official Gazette of the RS," Nos. 36/2009, 88/2010, 91/2010 – corr., 14/2016, 95/2018 – amended law, and 71/2021).
The appropriate assessment for the ecological network is an institute that was introduced into Serbian legislation back in 2010 under the Law on Nature Protection. However, in practice, it has not yet been fully implemented, as the required related regulation has not yet been adopted.
The ecological network is a coherent, functional, and spatially connected unit established for the conservation of habitat types of special importance for the protection, restoration, and/or improvement of damaged habitats, as well as for the conservation of habitats for wild species of flora and fauna. The appropriate assessment is a process in which the potential impacts of a project on the conservation and integrity of the ecological network area are evaluated.
The Laws address the relationship between the environmental impact assessment process and appropriate assessment for projects that may have a significant impact on the conservation and integrity of the ecological network area. For projects subject to strategic impact assessment or environmental impact assessment, the appropriate assessment is conducted as part of these procedures.
The Law on Environmental Impact Assessment prescribes that if a project might have an impact on conservation and integrity of the ecological network area, the main appropriate assessment procedure is conducted in accordance with the Law on Nature Protection, before the issuance of the decision granting consent for the environmental impact assessment study.
According to the Law on Strategic Environmental Assessment, the appropriate assessment is conducted for plans and programs that, either alone or with other plans, programs, projects, works, or activities, may have a significant negative impact on the conservation goals and integrity of the ecological network area. The preliminary appropriate assessment is carried out before the decision to draft the strategic environmental assessment is made. If the preliminary assessment shows that the project may have an impact on the preservation and integrity of the ecological network area, the main appropriate assessment shall be carried out before the preparation of the strategic impact assessment report.
Additionally, under the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, the competent authority, when deciding on a request for an impact assessment for a project that may affect the conservation and integrity of the ecological network area, may decide that an impact assessment is not required only if, based on the conducted procedure and the decision made in the preliminary appropriate assessment, it is determined that the project will not have negative impacts on the conservation and integrity of the ecological network area.
The provisions of the Laws concerning the appropriate assessment will become applicable two years after the Laws entered into force.
Law on Environmental Impact Assessment
The Law stipulates that, among other things, projects that, alone or together with other projects, may have a significant impact on the environment are subject to environmental impact assessment. It also includes projects that, alone or together with other projects, works, or activities, may significantly impact the conservation and integrity of ecological network areas.
This prevents a project proponent from intentionally dividing a project to avoid application of the Law (known as "splitting") and also covers situations where multiple smaller projects, that individually don’t have significant impact, cumulatively create a significant effect (known as "small scale projects").
This law also introduces that it is mandatory to obtain the opinion of the Ministry of Environmental Protection when issuing location conditions and it improves the coordination between the impact assessments and other project permits. The connection between the environmental impact assessment study and the decision granting the approval of the project is clearly defined. The environmental protection conditions and measures are now directly included in the decision that approves the project, ensuring that environmental protection is integral and mandatory throughout all phases of the project implementation.
Additionally, this law introduces longer deadlines for informing of public about submitted requests by the competent authority and for receiving feedback from interested parties, allowing active public participation through an electronic database and central web portal. This database, along with the central web portal will be established by the Ministry of Environmental Protection within three years of the Law's entry into force.
Also, fines for legal entities and responsible persons within them who violate this law are increased, significantly raising the responsibility of project proponents when it comes to environmental protection.
Law on Strategic Environmental Assessment
The Law on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment introduces several significant changes, primarily in terms of better coordination between various strategic plans and programs. This law mandates alignment with higher hierarchical levels, reducing the need for dual impact assessment processes. It allows the use of data from previously conducted strategic environmental assessment procedures when assessing significant impacts of plans that belong to the same hierarchical structure. This is a key innovation that contributes to reducing administrative burdens and increasing process efficiency.
Special focus is put on improving the quality of strategic environmental assessment reports through the formation of expert commissions that will provide opinions and comments, ensuring the accuracy and relevance of the assessments. These commissions will consist of experts from various fields such as water management, mining, energy, etc. This will significantly improve the quality of strategic assessments, as qualified experts can provide their comments on the draft strategic assessment reports, which will be considered by the competent authority for environmental protection when granting consent.
The new Law on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment also introduces the mandatory electronic publication of all phases of the process, enabling easy access to documentation and information available in the draft plan and report on strategic environmental assessment. This approach ensures greater transparency and allows for active participation in the decision-making process. The Law also mandates the establishment of an electronic database and web portal by the Ministry of Environment.
Conclusion
The adoption of the new Laws on Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment marks a significant step toward aligning with European Union legislation and improving environmental protection in Serbia, substantially enhancing the quality of environmental protection procedures.
By Jelena Stankovic Lukic, Partner, Katarina Rosic, Senior Associate, and Jana Stanojevic, Associate, JPM Partners
