The legal regulation of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) is the key instrument in the Czech environmental law. In particular, EIA resulted from the Convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context signed in Espoo, Finland, in 1991.
The Czech Republic acceded to the convention in 1993. EIA serves as an instrument of ecological policy and prevention regulated by EU directives; these principles and methods were later incorporated in Czech law (since 2004), including the "Natura 2000" impact assessment.
Currently, the legal regulation of the EIA is in the Czech Act No.100/2001 Coll., Environmental Impact Assessment Act, as amended, and in the Act No.114/1992 Coll., Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection Act, as amended. This paper deals with the evolution of the EIA in the Czech law, current legal aspects of EIA and the scientific research in the field of Czech environmental law.