Group II (Annex II of the EIA Directive) comprises projects
which might potentially have a significant impact on the environment
and for which the EIA procedure may be required (“the
potential list”). Projects listed in Annex II to the Directive are not
automatically subjected to an environmental impact assessment
(Interpretation EIA, 2014). The member countries when determining
which projects are to be the subject to qualification
according to their significant environmental impact should apply
the selection criteria given in Annex III to the EIA Directive, including
the following: characteristics of the projects (i.e. the size of
the project, the use of natural resources, cumulation of interactions
with other projects, the risk of accidents), environmental
sensitivity of the location of the projects (for example: the existing
land use, absorption capacity), as well as potential impact of the
project (the extent of the impact, probability of a negative impact,
reversibility of the effects, etc.). The process of determining whether
an assessment is required for a project listed in Annex II is
called screening, a defining feature of the procedures as a whole. It
is the first formal point, in most EIA systems, where a project is
examined by the competent authority to assess the likely significance
of its environmental impacts (Pinho et al., 2010; Weston,
2004, 2011; Interpretation EIA, 2014).