HELCOM RECOMMENDATION 12/2 

Adopted 20 February 1991, having regard to Article 13, Paragraph b) of the Helsinki Convention 

INFORMATION AND CONSULTATION WITH REGARD TO CONSTRUCTION OF NEW INSTALLATIONS AFFECTING THE BALTIC SEA

THE COMMISSION,

RECALLING Article 3 of the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1974 (Helsinki Convention), in which the Contracting Parties undertake to take individually or jointly all appropriate legislative, administrative or other relevant measures in order to prevent and abate pollution and to protect and enhance the marine environment of the Baltic Sea Area,

RECALLING ALSO that according to Article 16 the Contracting Parties, without prejudice to their sovereign rights, agreed directly, or when appropriate through competent regional or other international organizations, to promote studies, undertake, support or contribute to programmes aimed at developing ways and means for the assessment of the nature and extent of pollution, pathways, exposures, risks and remedies in the Baltic Sea Area,

HAVING REGARD to Paragraphs 1 and 17 of the Baltic Sea Declaration 1990 in which the Heads of the Governments stated their firm determination, inter alia, to assure the ecological restoration of the Baltic Sea and preservation of its ecological balance as well as to undertake to integrate environmental considerations into the procedures for planning future development in all economic and social processes,

BEING CONSCIOUS of the particular sensitivity of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea, and of the economic, social and cultural values the Baltic Sea and its living resources represent for the peoples of the Baltic Sea States,

BEING CONVINCED that damage to the marine environment can be irreversible or remediable only in a long term perspective and at considerable expense and that, therefore, a principle of precautionary approach should be applied, not to wait for full and undisputed scientific proof of harmful effects before taking appropriate preventive action,

RECOGNIZING that harmful effects might be caused by pollution as well as by disturbance of natural hydrological, hydrochemical and biological regime,

RECOMMENDS that the Governments of the Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Commission:

1)inform and, where necessary, consult with any Contracting Party likely to be significantly affected by the construction of an installation with a significant adverse impact on the Baltic Sea where an Environmental Impact Assessment is required by either national or international law;

2)ensure that where two or more Contracting Parties share a common body of water, the relevant authorities of those countries cooperate to ensure that the significant adverse environmental effects on that body of water of a proposal (including where appropriate the effects of related proposals and cumulative effects) are fully investigated before a decision on that proposal is made.   

3)inform the Commission on such installations as described under Paragraph 1).