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The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that the Master Plan of a residential housing construction project in Dublin should only be subject to a strategic environmental assessment if it is linked to the competent authority to authorize the project. In addition, the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive is compatible with national regulations that require increasing the height of buildings in urban development projects. The judgment also establishes that the concept of "plans and programs" in Directive 2001/42 includes not only the preparation but also the modification of plans and programs, with the aim of ensuring the environmental assessment of provisions that may have significant effects on the environment. Furthermore, acts that allow for exceptions to certain elements of the project authorization framework must also undergo an environmental assessment. [Extracted from the article]

Several authors report a transition from lower to higher complexity in the environmental assessment politics, from an originally sectoral approach to a systemic and strategic perspective. However, as in any political process, these shifts are neither homogeneous nor linear. In fact, there are significant differences in the environmental assessment systems of the global North and South. This theoretical essay analyzes the tensions that the economic growth causes on the design and application of the environmental assessments in Latin America and Chile; and how the economic pressures have hampered the construct of a systemic, strategic and democratic environmental assessment, with the urgency that the critical Anthropocene context demands nowadays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Supreme Court ruling, an appeal against the annulment of a decision by the Commission for Land Planning and Environment of the Canary Islands is resolved. The appeal is based on the unnecessary requirement of an environmental impact assessment for the Plan in question and the non-obligation to subject it to the Strategic Evaluation of Plans and Programs. The Supreme Court considers that none of the arguments presented in the appeal are acceptable and confirms the annulment of the plan. It emphasizes the importance of environmental impact assessment as a reconciling technique between the demands of economic and social development and environmental protection. [Extracted from the article]

Decree 74/2011, from the Government of Aragon, modifies the annexes of Law 7/2006, on environmental protection in Aragon. These modifications are made to adapt the law to the new environmental and technical requirements that have arisen since its approval. The most significant changes include the introduction of new cases in the annexes related to the environmental assessment of plans, programs, projects, and installations. Additionally, modifications are made to the annexes that contain activities requiring environmental impact assessment, and new cases are added to the annex of activities exempt from environmental licensing. The decree came into effect on April 6, 2011. [Extracted from the article]