The European Union and Health Impact Assessments: Are they an unrecognised statutory obligation?

A paper looking at the use of health impact assessment (HIA) in the European Union has been published by the UK National Heart Forum. The paper examines whether HIA should be considered mandatory in the same way as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

Although the EU Treaty includes responsibilities relating to both health and the environment, legal directives passed by the European Commission have made EIAs and SEAs mandatory for Member States, but not health impact assessments.

This paper analyses the position of HIAs, SEAs and EIAs and sets out an agenda for policy development and advocacy, to ensure that health impacts are assessed as regularly and thoroughly as environmental impacts.

Report: September 2008
Author/Editor: Rebecca Salay and Paul Lincoln
Produced by: National Heart Forum
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