Part A - Framework conditions 
5 
Part A - Framework conditions 
1 Preliminary remarks 
Within the framework of the approval procedure for offshore wind farms in the Exclusive 
Economic Zone (EEZ), potential adverse impacts of the planned facilities on the marine 
environment have to be assessed. Besides, in line with the German regulation § 3 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 
UVPG i.V.m. Anlage 1, Nr. 1.6, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is now mandatory. 
In the Standard for Environmental Impact Assessments (StUK) at hand, information is pro 
vided to applicants on the scope of investigations required by the planning approval/approval 
authority, with all relevant details and explanations. Likewise, the planning approval/approval 
holders and operators of wind farms are provided with detailed information about the require 
ments for operation-phase monitoring, which is currently considered indispensable. 
The StUK constitutes a framework of the current thematic and technical minimum require 
ments for marine environmental surveys and monitoring of constituent criteria as per § 5 Sec 
tion. 6 No. 2 Seeanlagenverordnung (Marine Facilities Ordinance) from 23 January 1997 
(BGBI - German Federal Law Gazette. I p. 57), last amended by Article 11 of the law from 
21 January 2013 (BGBl. I p. 95), (hereinafter called SeeAnlV) as well as for monitoring during 
the construction and operation phase. 
The third update of the StUK is based on experience that has been gained with the versions 
of December 2001, February 2003 and on data from the surveys conducted in the context 
of the research project “Ökologische Begleitforschung am Offshore-Testfeldvorhaben alpha 
ventus zur Evaluierung des Standarduntersuchungskonzeptes des BSH - StUKplus” 
(FKZ: 0327689A), funded by the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation 
and Nuclear Safety. Apart from a general increase in knowledge, the findings of environmental 
monitoring carried out under the German Federal and State monitoring programme in the 
North Sea and Baltic Sea, the Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environ 
ment of the Baltic Sea Area and the OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the North Sea 
and North-East Atlantic have been taken into account. 
The following international documents based on mutual exchange of information have been 
published: 
• OSPAR Commission (2008). Guidance on Environmental Considerations for Offshore Wind 
Farm Development (Replaces agreements 2003-16, 2005-2, 2006-5, 2007-9). Reference 
number: 2008/-3. 
• OSPAR Commission (2004). Problems and Benefits Associated with the Development of 
Offshore Wind-Farms. ISBN 1-904426-48-4. 
• OSPAR Commission (2008). Assessment of the environmental impact of offshore wind- 
farms. Reference number: 2008/-385. 
• OSPAR Commission (2006). Review of the Current State of Knowledge on the Environmen 
tal Impacts of the Location Operation and Removal/Disposal of Offshore Wind-Farms. 
Reference number: 2006/-278. 
It should be noted that this standard, as well as its earlier versions, has been developed in 
consultation with numerous experts. The fact that various concepts discussed in the course 
of the decision making process have not been considered in the StUK does not imply any 
criticism of such concepts. The planning approval/approval authority, after having consulted 
the experts and having studied the different concepts, in each case selected one of several 
possible solutions and also allowed alternatives considered suitable for the procedure.