.1 Screening
EIA process kicks off with project screening. Screening is done to determine whether or not a proposal should be subject to EIA and, if so, at what level of detail. Guidelines for whether or not an EIA is required are country specific depending on the laws or norms in operation. Legislation often specifies the criteria for screening and full EIA. Development banks also screen projects presented for financing to decide whether an EIA is required using their set criteria.
The output of the screening process is often a document called an Initial Environmental Examination or Evaluation (IEE) (Section 4.1). The main conclusion will be a classification of the project according to its likely environmental sensitivity. This will determine whether an EIA is needed and if so, to what detail.