Since 21 July 2004, chapter 6 of the Swedish Environmental Code [miljöbalken] has contained provisions stating that certain plans and programmes drawn up or amended by government agencies and municipal authorities should be subject to strategic environmental assessment (SEA). This manual, which contains general guidelines on strategic environmental assessment of plans and programmes, aims to provide guidance on how government agencies and municipal authorities must, should and can act in order to comply with the provisions of the Environmental Code [miljöbalk (1998:808)]and the Ordinance on EISs and SEA reports [förordning (1998:905) om miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar]. This guidance applies to all plans and programmes which may be appropriate for strategic environmental assessment. A manual issued by the Swedish National board of Housing, Building and Planning [Boverket] is also available for plans linked to the Swedish Planning and Building Act (Swedish National board of Housing, Building and Planning 2006). The manual provides guidance on such matters as the plans and programmes covered by the provisions, how to decide whether a SEA is required, the stages included in the SEA process, when those stages should be implemented and how they may be implemented. The manual is aimed primarily at officials at municipal authorities and government agencies and consultants who are to take part in a strategic environmental assessment or who will decide whether a strategic environmental assessment is required. The work of compiling the manual was carried out in the form of a project. The working group included people from the Climate Change Department and the Implementation and Enforcement Department of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency [Naturvårdsverket]. A reference group made up of representatives from government agencies, municipal authorities, consultants and researchers provided support in the work of preparing the manual and the general guidelines. Extracts from the manual and general guidelines were sent to almost 100 referral bodies for their opinions. Those opinions have been collected and taken into consideration. The main author and project leader was Mikael Johannesson. Anna Wahlström was involved in preparing the manual and also wrote part of the text. Jenny Liökel, Jan-Ola Olofsson and Ann Åkerskog contributed texts, graphics or layout. Egon Enocksson was responsible for the final preparation of the general guidelines on strategic environmental assessments of plans and programmes.