The aim of the Act is to enhance the assessment of environmental impact of human activities, to enhance environmental decision-making and to provide access of the public to environment information.
The text consists of 27 sections which are divided into 6 Chapters: The scope of the Act and definitions (1); Assessment procedures (2); Transboundary environmental impact (3); Miscellaneous provisions (4); Impact assessment by public bodies (5); Entry into force (6).
Environmental impact is defined in section 2 as the direct and indirect consequences which a project or its related activities has within or outside the Finnish territory on: (1) public health and well-being; (2) land and water, air, climate, vegetation and organisms and the interaction among these natural resources with regard to the conservation of biodiversity; (3) on the structure of society, constructions, rural and urban landscape, and (4) on the use of natural resources. The general supervision of environment impact assessment lies with the Ministry of the Environment (sect. 16). The Act shall not apply to projects for which a permission was issued before the entry into force of the present Act and which was made public before the 14 January 1994.