Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is the term used to describe the environmental assessment process for strategic actions (policies, plans and programmes) approved earlier than the authorisation of individual projects. Internationally, there is a growing interest in SEA. During the last decades, various countries have developed either mandatory or voluntary SEA systems and guidelines. The most advanced systems can be found in the United States and the Netherlands. Both Australia and New Zealand have legal provisions for more strategic forms of environmental assessment, although these are seldom put in practice. Various EU Member States (eg Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom) have, during the last years, made some provisions for the environmental assessment of certain strategic actions. In the Central and Eastern European countries interest in SEA is slowly emerging. SEA is particularly useful in assisting environmental analysis and assessment of strategic actions in the transport sector when an inter-modal approach is adopted. It helps to structure and focus the environmental analysis on the key alternative planning and management options in an integrated way. It yields the information necessary for making decisions in a context of planning for sustainable development. The report is in four sections, following the executive summary: introduction; overview (role, process, techniques of SEA); SEA for transport policies, plans and programmes; recommendations. There are four annexes: (1) SEA provision in Europe; (2) general SEA research; (3) SEA for transport: research projects (details of individual project given); (4) SEA in transport: relevant European, national and EU experience.
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