An Analysis on Strategic Environmental Assessment Legislation (EU Legislation) Considering Turkey

Abstract

Although legal Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) practices are mostly observed in developed countries, SEA practices to be internalized through sustainable development principles are of great importance for the countries with ongoing development processes at a national scale, such as Turkey. Another important aspect of the issue for Turkey can be evaluated within the perspective of the EU accession process. Turkey has been making serious efforts in adapting economic and legal regulations to EU legal acquis since the beginning of the accession process. The actions taken on the issue started to gain speed in the country following the SEA Directive of June 27, 2001 by the EU. It is stated in the tenth Article of the Environmental Law, amended on April 26, 2006, that the procedures and principles related to SEA shall be covered by the regulation to be enacted on the SEA, which is an important step toward the enactment of the related regulations. The mentioned regulation was enacted on April 8, 2017. Before administering the SEA Regulation, the "Environmental Impact Assessment, Licensing and Inspection," which is the administrative unit of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, prepared the ground for growth with in-service trainings and SEA pilot implementation, and carried out support applications for various projects. Fields for piloting were used as a tool to apply to all industries. The EU legislation and Turkey's legislation have been analyzed in terms of the SEA in this study. As a result; Turkey, which has the status of candidate to the EU, It has complied with the Environmental Legislation to the EU SEA Directive.