Environmental policy
A wide range of instruments exist in the Environmental policy of the European Union. Among them the European Union has established a mix of mandatory and discretionary procedures to assess environmental impacts. Directive (85/337/EEC) on Environmental Impact Assessments (known as the "EIA Directive") was first introduced in 1985, amended in 1997, amended again in 2003 following EU signature of the 1998 Aarhus Convention, and once more in 2009.