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Italy has regulated VAS through the legislative decree (D. Lgs) n. 152 of 3rd
April 2006 “Environmental Norms” which has been replaced by D. Lgs. N.4 of 16th
January 2008 “Further corrective and integrative regulations on D. Lgs. n. 152 of
3rd April 2006”. This law focuses on procedural aspects: in order to guarantee a
high level protection of environment it does not set limits to be respected, but it
establishes that impacts on environment must be taken into consideration during the
elaboration of plans and before their approval.
Ahead of European law on VAS, Emilia-Romagna Region has approved in 2000
the law n. 20 “General discipline on land protection and use” which introduced,
among other innovations, the “pre-emptive evaluation on environmental and territorial sustainability” (VALSAT) as a constitutive element of approved plans.
After that, Emilia-Romagna Region has acknowledged the legislative decree n
4/2008 with the Regional Law n. 6 of the year 2009 “Government and renewal of
territory”.
Regional Law n. 6/2009 has stressed the importance, already expressed in the
previous law n. 20/2000, of the sustainable territorial and urban planning introducing the following issues:
– Starting from the initial elaboration phases and until their approval, plans must
take into consideration the impacts that their implementation can have on the
environment and territory.
– In the annexes of the approved plan, a specific document must be included where
potential impacts on environment of the implementation of the plan are identified, described and evaluated. Besides, the necessary actions to avoid, reduce or
compensate these effects must be mentioned, taking into consideration the characteristics of the territory and the area.
– In order to avoid any duplications in the evaluation, the results of the higher level
plans and of those ones that are intended to be changed.
– The regional and provincial authorities, as competent bodies, express their opinions on the environmental evaluation of, respectively, the provincial and municipal plans.
– The regional, provincial and municipal authorities must also monitor the implementation of their plans and of their effects on the environment and territory, also
with the aim of revising or updating them if needed.
In addition, minimum fulfilments are set for the implementation of the environmental evaluation of the plans. Especially, in order to guarantee the transparency of
the decisional process, the completeness and reliability of the information used
within the evaluation, some obligations are set:
– Both environment related experts and the general public (citizens) must be consulted in the evaluation.
– Detailed explanations on how environmental issues have been taken into consideration during the elaboration of the plan and a monitoring programme during
the plan implementation phase must be provided.
– Environmental documents used during the evaluation, the expressed advices and
the final decision must be communicated and must made be available.
6 UHI in the Metropolitan Cluster of Bologna-Modena...
Italy has regulated VAS through the legislative decree (D. Lgs) n. 152 of 3rd
April 2006 “Environmental Norms” which has been replaced by D. Lgs. N.4 of 16th
January 2008 “Further corrective and integrative regulations on D. Lgs. n. 152 of
3rd April 2006”. This law focuses on procedural aspects: in order to guarantee a
high level protection of environment it does not set limits to be respected, but it
establishes that impacts on environment must be taken into consideration during the
elaboration of plans and before their approval.
Ahead of European law on VAS, Emilia-Romagna Region has approved in 2000
the law n. 20 “General discipline on land protection and use” which introduced,
among other innovations, the “pre-emptive evaluation on environmental and territorial sustainability” (VALSAT) as a constitutive element of approved plans.
After that, Emilia-Romagna Region has acknowledged the legislative decree n
4/2008 with the Regional Law n. 6 of the year 2009 “Government and renewal of
territory”.
Regional Law n. 6/2009 has stressed the importance, already expressed in the
previous law n. 20/2000, of the sustainable territorial and urban planning introducing the following issues:
– Starting from the initial elaboration phases and until their approval, plans must
take into consideration the impacts that their implementation can have on the
environment and territory.
– In the annexes of the approved plan, a specific document must be included where
potential impacts on environment of the implementation of the plan are identified, described and evaluated. Besides, the necessary actions to avoid, reduce or
compensate these effects must be mentioned, taking into consideration the characteristics of the territory and the area.
– In order to avoid any duplications in the evaluation, the results of the higher level
plans and of those ones that are intended to be changed.
– The regional and provincial authorities, as competent bodies, express their opinions on the environmental evaluation of, respectively, the provincial and municipal plans.
– The regional, provincial and municipal authorities must also monitor the implementation of their plans and of their effects on the environment and territory, also
with the aim of revising or updating them if needed.
In addition, minimum fulfilments are set for the implementation of the environmental evaluation of the plans. Especially, in order to guarantee the transparency of
the decisional process, the completeness and reliability of the information used
within the evaluation, some obligations are set:
– Both environment related experts and the general public (citizens) must be consulted in the evaluation.
– Detailed explanations on how environmental issues have been taken into consideration during the elaboration of the plan and a monitoring programme during
the plan implementation phase must be provided.
– Environmental documents used during the evaluation, the expressed advices and
the final decision must be communicated and must made be available.
6 UHI in the Metropolitan Cluster of Bologna-Modena...