Archaeology and Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental Impact Assessment in Archaeology enables a judicious decision to be taken that has weighed other environmental factors related to project viability. This work involves gathering information, identifying and predicting heritage impacts as well as laying down measures that will avoid, minimize or compensate for any negative effects.
The transposition of Council Directive no. 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 to the Decree-Law no. 69/2000 of 3 May, which approved the legal system for assessing environmental effects of public and private projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment was an essential preventive instrument for a sustainable development policy.
This is therefore a crucial preventive instrument for environmental purposes with significant impact on heritage protection.
Following the transposition, there was a progressive and significant participation of cultural authorities in EIA decisions such as in the AIA - Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente (APA) and in Regional Development Coordination Committees (CCDR).
As a result, a legal-effect document was published in 2004 called “Terms of Reference for Environmental Impact Studies applied to Archaeological Works”. It was meant to lay down the methodologies applied to archaeological impact studies in different stages and as applied to different project types.
With the transposition of Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011, a new EIA legal system was approved through the Decree-Law no. 151-B/2013 of 31 October. It reinforced the importance of the participation of, and monitoring by, the cultural authorities in EIA procedures. This is currently one of the most important archaeological safeguarding instruments.
- Development of a strategy for the deposit and transfer of archaeological collections;
· Standardisation of criteria and procedures for the deposit and transfer of archaeological collections;
· Standardisation of criteria for accrediting archaeological reserves;
· Standardisation of criteria for organising archaeological collection deposits.
Contacts
Palácio Nacional da Ajuda
1349-021 Lisboa
T. +351 21 361 42 00
eia@dgpc.pt
Legislation
Regime jurídico da avaliação de impacte ambiental (AIA) - Decreto-Lei nº 151-B/2013 de 31 de outubro, alterado pelo Decreto-Lei n.º 47/2014 de 24 de março
Normas técnicas respeitantes à proposta de definição de âmbito (PDA), ao estudo de impacte ambiental (EIA), ao resumo não técnico (RNT), ao relatório de conformidade ambiental (RECAPE) com a declaração de impacte ambiental (DIA) e aos relatórios de monitorização (RM) - Portaria nº 330/2001 de 2 de abril
Circulares
Projetos de Investigação Plurianual de Arqueologia - Circular nº 1/2015
Termos de referência para o descritor Património Arqueológico em Estudos de Impacte Ambiental - circular de 29 de março de 2023