  We employ a homogenization technique based on the Lorentz electronic theory
to show that planar chiral structures (PCSs) can be described by an effective
dielectric tensor similar to that of biaxial elliptically dichroic crystals.
Such a crystal is shown to behave like a PCS insofar as it exhibits its
characteristic optical properties, namely, co-rotating elliptical polarization
eigenstates and asymmetric, direction-dependent transmission for
left/right-handed incident wave polarization.
