Filling the gaps in the SEA practice: An analysis of SEA guidelines in Europe

The European Directive 2001/42/EC has introduced the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), a procedure for assessing the impacts of plans and programs on the environment. European member states have acknowledged the SEA directive through a series of legisla-tive acts followed by guidelines about the implementation of the SEA procedure. Member states have adopted different approaches for the SEA implementation through, for example, the release of guidance documents or manuals. Starting from this background, we aim at analyzing some European SEA guidelines to un-derstand their principles and contents, and describe strengths and pitfalls of such docu-ments. Our study is the basis for a future proposal for SEA guidelines in Sardinia.