The Espoo Convention sets out the obligations of parties to assess the environmental impact of certain activities at an early stage of planning and lays down general obligations of states to notify and consult each other on all major projects under consideration that are likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact across boundaries.

• Adopted: 25 February 1991
• Opened for signature: 25 February 1991
• Entered into force: 10 September 1997
• Parties: 45 parties (including the European Union) (see table below)

More information on the Espoo Convention, including the text, is available here.

The current status of the Espoo Convention is available here.

The following articles related to the Espoo Convention were published in the Nuclear Law Bulletin and Principles and Practice of International Nuclear Law:

• Environmental Law and Nuclear Law: A Growing Symbiosis, by S. Emmerechts (NLB 82, p. 91).
• Nuclear and environmental law in the licensing of nuclear installations, by C. Raetzke (NLB 92, p. 55).
• The application of the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context to nuclear energy-related activities (NLB 97, p. 63).
• Environmental impact assessments and long-term operation of nuclear power reactors: Increasing importance of environmental protection in the European Union?, by S. Emmerechts and P. Bourdon (NLB 105, p. 7).
• Nuclear activities and environmental protection: The international legal framework, by K.S. Nick and P. Bowden (Principles and Practice of International Nuclear Law, p. 211)

* Country with at least one nuclear power plant in operation.