Abstract
Abstract The Protocol on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context ( EIA Protocol) to the Tehran Convention seeks to improve regional decision-making for proposed activities likely to cause significant harm to the environment of the Caspian Sea. Indeed, this instrument introduces robust guarantees for inter-State consultation at the earliest stages of the environmental impact assessment procedures. It also enshrines, for the first time across the Caspian region, the right to public participation in environmental decision-making. Regrettably, this new protocol contains various ambiguities, namely, an unclear scope of application and a broadly worded security carve-out, which are likely to affect its implementation.