A/HRC/33/42/Add.3 communities from financial support under the Legal Aid Act18 has significantly limited their ability to effectively assert their rights, including in the face of natural resource investments on their traditional territories and in disputes concerning reindeer grazing rights. 40. The main legislation governing mining activities in Sweden is the Minerals Act.19 Unlike its Finnish and Norwegian counterparts, the Minerals Act does not include any explicit references to Sami rights. While Sami reindeer herding rights are formally protected, that is not explicitly mentioned in the Minerals Act, but rather in related legislation. 41. In addition to the Minerals Act, the Environmental Code20 applies in matters concerning the granting of a concession, while a permit for exploitation is granted under both the Minerals Act and the Environmental Code. Exploration permits and exploitation concessions are granted by the Mining Inspectorate and may be appealed before the Government. While companies must submit an environmental impact assessment in order for an exploitation concession to be granted, that process merely seeks to establish the conditions for mining and does not preclude mining activities if negative impacts on Sami culture and livelihoods are found. 42. There are no requirements for social impact assessments under Swedish law. Assessments for permits and concessions are conducted on a case-by-case basis and applications for exploration and exploitation permits are not evaluated against already existing projects and the cumulative impact that they may have on the affected Sami communities. That is seen as particularly problematic as many Sami communities are struggling to adjust to multiple extractive and development projects on their traditional territories, a point that has been raised not only by affected Sami communities but also by companies pursuing projects on Sami lands.21 43. Following amendments in 2014, the Minerals Ordinance 22 specifies that for activities proposed in reindeer herding areas, the Sami Parliament has the right to be informed and to express an opinion on applications for exploitation permits. However, the Special Rapporteur was informed that those amendments have substantially increased the workload of the Sami Parliament, but that has not been coupled with the increase in budget needed to adequately accomplish the task. At the earliest stages of the permit process, the landowner and other interested parties, which have been specified to include reindeer herding communities only, also have a right to be informed about the workplan and to express their opinion or opposition to the plan. In the view of the Special Rapporteur, that provision cannot readily be seen as meeting the State’s duty to consult and obtain the consent of affected Sami communities as its scope is limited to a right to state an opinion on a proposed plan of operations, and does not entail a right to withhold consent to the granting of the permit. 44. Areas deemed to be of national interest for reindeer herding are protected through the Environmental Code, and the Sami Parliament is the responsible agency for identifying such areas.23 A central concern, however, is the fact that those areas may overlap with other national interests, designated by other State agencies, including energy production, nature 18 19 20 21 22 23 12 Rettshjälpslag (1996:1619). Minerallagen (1991:45). Miljöbalk (1998:808). See the decision of the Norwegian National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in Jijnjevaerie Sami Village and Statkraft SCA Vind AB (SSVAB) (2016) 6.4, p. 9. Mineralförordning (1992:285). See Miljöbalk, chap. 3, sect. 5.