The draft federal law On Accession to the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the UNECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context has been drawn up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pursuant to the President’s instruction of June 20, 2011, which was issued as a result of a meeting of the State Council of the Russian Federation on June 9, 2011.

Approved by the President on April 30, 2012, the foundations of state policy in the area of the environmental development of Russia until 2030 make provision for the drafting of a legal framework for introducing and applying a strategic environmental assessment to plans and programmes which are likely to impact the environment.

The Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the UNECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (hereinafter the Protocol on SEA), which entered into force on July 11, 2010, is a basic international agreement that provides a mechanism for the strategic environmental assessment of plans, programmes and development strategies as well as laws and regulations, aimed at ensuring a high level of environmental protection, including health protection.

Implementing the Protocol on SEA as a preventive environmental mechanism will enhance the efficiency of public environmental regulation and environmental security and create additional legal guarantees for the right of everyone to enjoy a healthy environment, which is enshrined in Article 42 of the Russian Constitution.

The draft law will be considered at a Government meeting.