Directive on Environmental Impact Assessment

1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that the authorities likely to be concerned by the project by reason of their specific environmental responsibilities are given an opportunity to express their opinion on the request for development consent. Member States shall designate the authorities to be consulted for this purpose in general terms or in each case when the request for consent is made. The information gathered pursuant to Article 5 shall be forwarded to these authorities. Detailed arrangements for consultation shall be laid down by the Member States.

2. Member States shall ensure that:
any request for development consent and any information gathered pursuant to Article 5 are made available to the public,
the public concerned is given the opportunity to express an opinion before the project is initiated.
3. The detailed arrangements for such information and consultation shall be determined by the Member States, which may in particular, depending on the particular characteristics of the projects or sites concerned:

• determine the public concerned,
• specify the places where the information can be consulted,
• specify the way in which the public may be informed, for example by bill-posting within a certain radius, publication in local newspapers, organization of exhibitions with plans, drawings, tables, graphs, models,
• determine the manner in which the public is to be consulted, for example, by written submissions, by public enquiry,
• fix appropriate time limits for the various stages of the procedure in order to ensure that a decision is taken within a reasonable period.