Transcript Vides piesārņojums

ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
LEGISLATION
Legislation (or “statutory law ") is law which has been
promulgated (pasludināt) by a legislature (likumdevēja vara) or
other governing body, or the process of making it.
Another source of law is judge-made law or case law.
Before of legislation becomes the law, it may be known as
a bill (likumprojekts).
Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, to
authorize, to proscribe, to provide funds, as well as to
sanction, to grant, to declare or to restrict.
LEGISLATION
Case law (precedentu tiesības) is the set of reported judicial
decisions of selected appellate courts which make new
interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as
precedents in a process known as stare decisis (legal principle by
which judges are obliged to respect the precedents established by
prior decisions).
These interpretations are distinguished from statutory law which are
the statutes and codes enacted (ieviest) by legislative bodies.
Regulatory law which are regulations established by government
based on statutes.
In some states, common law are the generally accepted laws carried
to the colonies and former colonies of England (USA, Australia,
etc.).
Trials (tiesas process) and hearings (uzklausīšana) which are not
selected as “courts of first impression” do not have rulings (tiesas
lēmums) that become case law, therefore, these rulings cannot be
precedents for future court decisions.
LEGISLATION
Statutory law (ar likumu noteikts) or statute law (parlamenta
likumdošanas akts) is written law, as opposed to oral or
customary (parasts) law, set down by a legislature or by a
legislator (in the case of an absolute monarchy).
Statutes (parlamenta likumdošanas akts) may originate with
national, state legislatures or local municipalities. Statutes of
lower jurisdictions are subordinate to the law of higher.
An oral law is a code of conduct in use in a given culture, religion
or community application, by which a body of rules of human
behaviour is transmitted by oral tradition and effectively
respected, or the single rule that is orally transmitted.
LEGISLATION
Legislation is regarded as one of the three main
functions of government, which are often
distinguished under the doctrine of the separation of
powers.
Those who have the formal power to create legislation
are known as legislators.
Judical branch of government will have the formal
power to interpret legislation.
The executive branch of government can act only
within the powers and limits set by the law.
LEGISLATION
The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system
of government, modelled after the politics of the United
Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster,
the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature. It
is used in the national legislatures and sub national
legislatures of most Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth
nations upon being granted responsible government,
beginning with the first of the Canadian provinces in 1848 and
the six Australian colonies between 1855 and 1890.
There are other parliamentary systems whose procedures differ
considerably from the Westminster system.
The Houses of Parliament are situated within the Palace of Westminster, in London.
German Parliament (Reichstag) building in Berlin.
The dedication Dem Deutschen Volke, meaning ‘For the German people’, can be seen on
the architrave.
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
Environmental law means a body of legislative provisions,
regulating the public rules of conduct in the area of
environmental protection.
Environmental law
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ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
Environmental law belongs to public law, which means that, to protect the
environment, the state prescribes for the public certain requirements that must be
followed.
If a person fails to comply with these requirements, the state may use
coercive (piespiedu) measures against such a person, imposing a
corresponding penalty or ordering to eliminate the adverse effects on the
environment resulting from the violation.
Environmental
law
Aims of the
environmental
protection
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SOURCES OF LAW
Environmental law consists of several types of legal sources
representing the written law (legislation) and the unwritten law (general
legal principles and customary law).
The sources of environmental law can be divided into
the basic sources or laws and ancillary (palīg-) sources
(case law or the rights of judges and jurisprudence – legal
science or jurists’ law).
written law –
legislation
Sources
of the law
unwritten law – general legal
principles and customary law
ancillary sources – case
law or the rights of judges and
jurisprudence
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EU Parliament
Parliament building in Brussels
The EU Parliament in Strasbourg
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EPP
EU Parliament’s parties
S&D
ALDE
ECR
G-EFA
GUE-NGL
EFD
Non-Inscrits
Socialists & Democrats (S&D) – 185
European People’s Party (EPP) – 265
European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) - 56
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) – 84
The Greens – European Free Alliance (Greens-EFA) – 55
EU Left & Nordic Green Left Alliance (EUL-NGL) – 35
European Alliance for Freedom (EAF) – 27 (eurosceptics)
Non-Inscrits - 29
National apportionment of Members of the European Parliament seats
(total 736)
Germany 99 (13.5%)
France 72 (9.8%)
Italy 72 (9.8%)
United Kingdom 72 (9.8%)
Spain 50 (6.8%)
Poland 50 (6.8%)
Romania 33 (4.5%)
Netherlands 25 (3.4%)
Belgium 22 (3.0%)
Czech Republic 22 (3.0%)
Greece 22 (3.0%)
Hungary 22 (3.0%)
Portugal 22 (3.0%)
Sweden 18 (2.4%)
Austria 17 (2.3%)
Bulgaria 17 (2.3%)
Finland 13 (1.8%)
Denmark 13 (1.8%)
Slovakia 13 (1.8%)
Ireland 12 (1.6%)
Lithuania 12 (1.6%)
Latvia 8 (1.1%)
Slovenia 7 (1.0%)
Cyprus 6 (0.8%)
Estonia 6 (0.8%)
Luxembourg 6 (0.8%)
Malta 5 (0.7%)
BASE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION LEGISLATION
Regulations
Binding legislative
documents of the EU
Directives
Decisions
EU legislation – including regulations, directives and decisions –
is binding to the European Union Member States.
EU environmental legislation is developed mainly in the form of directives that the
Member States must then integrate into their national law.
National environmental legal protection is also based on
international legislation. For the most part, they are international
agreements (conventions, protocols) to which the Member State
is a party.
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THE EUROPEAN UNION ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
EU acquis communautaire
(“community heritage”) are:
Primary legislation documents, issued
based on European Community
establishment treaties
Secondary legislation documents –
regulations, directives, decisions,
conventions, declarations
Two core functional treaties, the Treaty on European Union (originally signed in Maastriht in
1992) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (originally signed in Rome
in 1958 as the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), lay out how the EU
operates, and there are a number of satellite treaties which are interconnected with them.
EU aims of environmental policy are:
• preserve, protect and improve environmental quality,
• provide a high-quality living environment,
• sustainable use of natural resources.
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Treaties of the
European Union
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Protocols, annexes and declarations
There are 37 protocols, 2 annexes and 65 declarations that are attached to the treaties to
elaborate details, often in connection with a single country, without being in the full legal
text.
Protocols:
on the role of National Parliamentsin the EU,
on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality ,
on the statute of the Court of Justice of the EU,
on the statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank,
on the statute of the European Investment Bank,
...
Annexes
Annex I lists agricultural and marine produce covered by the Common Agriculture Policy and the
Common Fisheries Policy.
Annex II lists the overseas countries and territories associated with the EU.
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Acquis communautaire
Acquis communautaire is a French term referring to the cumulative body of
European Community laws, comprising the EC’s objectives, substantive rules,
policies and, in particular, the primary and secondary legislation and case law – all
of which form part of the legal order of the European Union. This includes all the
treaties, regulations and directives passed by the European institutions, as well as
judgements laid down by the European Court of Justice. The acquis is dynamic,
constantly developing as the Community evolves, and fundamental.
All Member States are bound to comply with the acquis communautaire.
The term is most often used in connection with preparations by candidate countries
to join the Union. They must adopt, implement and enforce all the acquis to be
allowed to join the EU. As well as changing national laws, this often means setting
up or changing the necessary administrative or judicial bodies which oversee the
legislation.
That part of the acquis communautaire, which is concerned with regulation of
employment and industrial relations, constitutes the foundation for Europeanisation
of employment and industrial relations in the Member States of the EU, and the
basis for a European system of employment and industrial relations.
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European Court of
Justice
The European Court of Justice (officially the
Court of Justice), is the highest court in
the European Union in matters of
European Union law.
The Court of Justice of the European Union
is tasked with interpreting EU law and
ensuring its equal application across all
EU member states.
The Court was established in 1952 and is
based in Luxembourg. It is composed of
one judge per member state — currently
28 — although it normally hears cases in
panels of three, five or thirteen judges.
The court has been led by President.
BASE OF THE NATIONAL LEGISLATION IN LATVIA
National legislation
include:
Laws approved by Saeima
(Latvian Parliament)
Regulations approved by the
Cabinet of Ministers
(state government)
Binding regulations approved by
local authorities
Constitution
Laws
Regulations
Cabinet of Ministers
Binding regulations
Hierarchy of the legislation in Latvia
local authorities
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Saeima - Parliament of the Republic of Latvia
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AS A
CONSTITUTIONAL NORM
Article 115 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia
stipulates:
”The State shall protect the right of everyone to
live in a benevolent environment by providing
information on environmental conditions and by
promoting the preservation and improvement of
the environment”.
Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia
Riga Town Hall
AIMS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION POLICY IN
LATVIA
Environmental legal protection is associated with
both environmental and natural resource
protection and sustainable use, and the
protection of human health from harmful
environmental factors in the following
environment-related areas:
• water protection,
• soil protection,
• protection against noise,
• ambient air protection,
• nature and biodiversity
conservation,
• waste management,
• turnover of chemical
substances and products,
• turnover of genetically
modified organisms,
• emissions and releases
into the environment,
• environmental impact
assessment,
• access to environmental
information,
• public participation in
environmental decision
making.
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LEGISLATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
In general, environment refers to:
 the surroundings of an object,
 the natural environment,
 all living and non-living things that occur
naturally on Earth.
For the purpose of the law, ‘the environment’ is taken to mean an aggregate of
natural, anthropogenic and societal factors.
Obviously, ‘the environment’ includes not only natural factors (the natural
environment), but also human beings and their impact on the natural environment.
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UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAW
The countries that belong to the continental European civil law system have
codified laws, which are often referred to as codes. In several countries, there
are civil and criminal as well as environmental law codifications. For example,
Germany, France and Sweden have environmental codes.
Latvian environmental regulatory standards are included not just in one but in
several laws: the Environmental Protection Law, the Law on Pollution, the Law
on the Conservation of Species and Biotopes, the Law on Specially Protected
Nature Territories, the Protection Zone Law, the Waste Management Law.
The laws of such countries as the United Kingdom and United States, in turn,
belong to another group of Western law – the English-Saxon common law
system. In this group of laws, the basic recognised sources of law are both the
laws adopted by the parliament (legislative statutes) and judicial precedents.
Therefore, in these countries, the so called rights of judges have significantly
greater weight than in continental Europe.
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UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAW
Human behaviour is governed by different types of rules – from etiquette and
morality to legal provisions.
However, only the legal provisions are contained in the sources of law and
are binding.
Environmental laws are primarily focused on solving environmental problems and
include measures that should be taken in order to prevent known environmental
problems.
Compliance with the requirements of legal provisions makes possible to eliminate
environmental damage or to reduce its impact.
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STRATEGICAL CHARACTER OF RIGHTS AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
To prevent human-created environmental problems
successfully, we need to develop a strategy to change human
behaviour, making it more environment-friendly.
In general, environmental law is
primarily rules of conduct in
environmental legislation
The law may set a binding framework, within
which
• economic,
• technical,
• informative,
• educational
and
• other measures
are often implemented for their environmental
value.
Since law is the most effective regulator of social behaviour, it is widely applied in
order to change social behaviour patterns in the use of the environment.
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STRATHEGICAL METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF
LAWS
The desired behaviour can be achieved with two kinds of methods, working as a
‘pie’ or a ‘whip’.
The ‘pie’ strategy
means that the law
stimulates the
implementation of
environment-friendly
behaviour in a way
that compliance with
environmental
protection
requirements is
beneficial.
The ‘whip’ strategy, in
contrast, provides for
measures prevent
Specific, environmentally
harmful actions.
These measures have to be such that the disadvantageous consequences
of environ mentally unfriendly actions would inhibit people from these
actions.
The ‘whip’ strategy is most commonly used in the provisions that impose
penalties or other coercive measures for non-compliance with
environmental protection requirements.
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IMPLEMENTATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS
Usually,
environmental law
drafts are developed
by
executive powers
or politicians
adopted by
the
legislator
implemented by
specialised state or
municipal environmental
protection authorities
Unlike it is with other social norms, the compliance with legal provisions can
be enforced by compulsion. Therefore, only the law has a specific
implementation process – the legal provision.
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LEGAL PROVISION
Legal provision is a mechanism for ensuring the
compliance with legal provisions or their
fulfilment.
courts
In order to make this process work,
the state has created relevant
institutions (authorities) which have
been granted a monopoly of coercion:
police
prosecutor’s office
specialised state
environmental
departments
The coercion mechanism grants the state (the law enforcement bodies) the
lawful right to apply coercive measures against the violators or non-observers
of the law. The coercive measures themselves are established by the law,
and they are quite different.
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CONTROL OF THE COMPLIANCE
WITH ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
The state has the right to monitor the compliance with environmental legislation.
Such control can be exercised by state environmental inspectors.
If non-conformities with the requirements of environmental
legislation are found during inspections, state environmental
inspectors may, for example:
 issue binding injunctions (administrative acts) for temporary
suspension of the company’s operations,
 draw up statements of the cases for less grievous
(administrative) violations,
 impose statutory administrative penalties for these
violations.
Although the law also provides for criminal liability for environmental legislation
offences, in practice the environmental regulatory violations are classified
primarily as less serious violations.
The most common punishment for environmental violation is an administrative
fine, whose amount is usually fixed by the law.
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LAW AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Environmental science and environmental
law each has its own specific tasks.
Environmental science explains and forms
understanding about the processes taking
place in the natural environment, interaction
going on among the elements of nature and
between humans and the natural
environment.
The task of the law is to
regulate social relations for
the purpose of protecting
and improving the
environment and to solve the
related disputes.
Although the environmental science and law are quite different areas, they are at the
same time closely related.
Regulation of social relations in such a way that human activity would not have any
destructive environmental impact is possible only if both the legislature and general
public have an understanding of the processes in the environment
and their causes.
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LAW AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Regulating social relations, the law as such is silent on
ethical issues
Is it acceptable to degrade the
natural environment and to
consume a large part of
the planet’s natural resources
during one generation ?
What is the moral
value of nature ?
Answers to these questions
What kinds of actions in relation
should be sought in
to nature should be regarded as
environmental ethics.
good or bad ?
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CONCEPTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Environmental law is based on two main conceptions
of environmental ethics – anthropocentrism and
ecocentrism.
Anthropocentric
approach: the
environment should be
protected in the
interests of human
welfare – today’s
environmental
protection conserves
environmental
resources for
future consumption.
Ecocentric approach: the
environment (nature) has
an intrinsic value in itself;
therefore, the human
responsibility is to protect it
without regard to the
benefits humans could obtain
from it, and to provide
for the possibility to exist not
only for humans but
also for other living beings.
Contemporary environmental law is primarily anthropocentric !
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LEGAL PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Environmental protection principles are guiding ideas on the
basis of which the state develops its environmental policy.
Compared with legal provisions as sufficiently clear rules of conduct, the environmental
protection principles are more abstract.
Principles are often considered as an intermediate stage between environmental
policy and environmental law.
There are several environmental
protection principles effective in the
European legal space
principle of high level of environmental
protection
principle of preventive action
precautionary principle
‘polluter pays’ principle
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PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE
The precautionary principle does not allow to start on an environment-affecting
action until the information has been obtained as to how high a risk exists and
what measures have to be taken to reduce it.
The aim of the precautionary principle is not to permit certain actions only when
the risk to the environment or human health is equated to zero, but to assess the
magnitude of the risk and, in case of need, take the necessary measures.
If the research process reveals a threat, the precautionary principle calls for
precautionary measures, despite the fact that there is some uncertainty as to
whether the risk is indeed real.
Example
Now the European Union law has brought new binding requirements based
on the precautionary principle – over 30 thousand existing and new chemical
substances will have to be tested with regard to their effect on human health.
It is no longer the country but manufacturers and importers of chemical
substances who must obtain certain information on the properties of these
substances and test them to determine their impact on the environment and
humans.
Manufacturers and importers of chemical substances guarantee their product
safe use, that is, prove that the substance is not hazardous.
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THE PRINCIPLE OF PREVENTIVE ACTION
The principle of preventive action requires to prevent pollution or other
harmful impacts on the environment or human health as much as possible,
or, if it is unfeasible, then at least to prevent further spreading of these harmful
effects and their negative consequences.
The principle of prevention combines two EU environmental protection principles
– the principle of preventive action and the principle of causation.
Example
Waste should be processed and disposed of as close to its place of
origination as possible (the proximity principle).
Each state or local government should, as far as practicable, by
itself treat and manage in an environmentally sound manner the
waste generated at its territory (the self-sufficiency principle).
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THE ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE
The assessment principle prescribes: if the consequences of an action or
project can significantly affect the environment or human health, they must be
assessed before such an action or project is permitted (commenced).
If it becomes evident after the assessment that the action or
project in question will adversely affect the environment or human
health,
the government may allow it on condition that the
expected positive result for society as a whole will
exceed the harm that the respective action or project
will have caused to the environment and society.
“The expected positive result for society
as a whole” may be related to the implementation of
economic interests, such as the construction of roads,
dams, pipelines, nuclear power plants.
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“THE POLLUTER PAYS” PRINCIPLE
“The polluter pays” principle requires that the costs of assessment,
prevention and mitigation of pollution as well as the costs of elimination
of its effects are borne by the person whose activity has caused the
pollution in question.
Persons – individuals or companies – whose actions have caused harm to the
environment, i.e., such detectable changes in the environment that are likely to have
significant negative impacts on both human health and also the environment (e.g.,
waters, specially protected areas, species, habitats) are required to restore the
previous state of the environment, covering the pollution removal and environment
restoration costs.
If the actual polluter does not exist anymore, and the
contaminated site does not have another owner, the clean-up of
the contaminated site has to be covered from the state budget.
To put ‘the polluter pays’ principle into effect, it is important to
determine who is the polluter and for what the polluter must pay.
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Deepwater Horizon off-shore drilling rig on fire, Gulf of Mexico, 2010.
LEGAL REGULATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Environmental quality is affected by different
factors:
 pollution,
 excessive deforestation,
 land cultivation and unreasonable fertilisation,
 use of substances or organisms foreign to the natural
environment.
To encompass all these and other factors, several
approaches and measures are used in the legal regulation of
environmental protection:
1) state exercises control over the polluting activities,
2) the ecosystem approach,
3) regulations for various state and local government
decision-making processes.
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE APPROACHES
All three approaches are used in the normative regulation of environmental
protection. However, going back to the beginnings of environmental laws,
it is possible to trace their changes and developments over time.
Initially, environmental legislation was focused on
controlling the pollution from industrial enterprises.
Then it became clear that other economic
activities also degrade the environment.
Therefore, the legislature began to set forth the objectives to
be attained within specified periods of time and to
require complex measures:
- gathering and analysis of information,
- planning and execution of measures,
- making transparent planning process by involving
the community.
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LEGAL REGULATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
LEGAL REGULATION
INSTRUMENTS:
Binding regulatory
requirements –
standards
Voluntarily made
commitments – self-regulation
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ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION INSTRUMENTS
Binding regulatory requirements are also called standards.
Often they are regarded as the core of environmental law,
because they, as the means of ‘command and control’, directly set
forth certain requirements (standards) for environment-polluting
activities, substances and products, as well as for the
implementation and application of environmental regulations.
There are several categories of standards: emission standards for the permissible
pollution that can be released from the end-of-pipe of industrial facilities into the
environment; the environmental quality standards for such environmental
components as air, surface and ground water and soil; standards for different
processes, requiring the use or abandonment of specific technologies, materials or
practices.
For example, there are requirements to use the ‘best available
technologies’ or specific fishing gear and dragnets with specific mesh
sizes in fishery.
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ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION INSTRUMENTS
Voluntarily made commitments (self-regulation). Self-regulation
is rooted in the idea that enterprises voluntarily assume additional
commitment for environ mental protection.
Another forms of self-regulation are:
-environmental audit, which is carried out within the
framework of the environmental management and audit
system established by law;
eco-labelling, which provide consumers with information on
the environmental impact of products.
In Europe, a transition to a new public management model took place
in the 90s of the 20th century. In accordance with this model, public
management takes over the management style typical to the private
sector, i.e. it is aimed at economy and effciency.
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ECO-LABELLING
Ecoproduct by Latvia
Scandinavian eco-label
Nordic Swan – Scandinavian
eco-label by Nordic Council
European Union official eco-label
Blue Angel – German environmental label
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DIALOGUE WITH SOCIETY
The authority of public opinion is crucial in environmental protection.
Environmental laws can have the necessary support and
effect only if the majority of society understands the
importance of favourable environment for human life and
the need to preserve the environment.
Public pressure often expedites the drafting and adoption of laws.
There are such legal provisions today, whose implementation is not even
possible without public activities. A vivid example is the Aarhus
Convention on public rights in environmental matters.
Aarhus Convention deals with environmental protection in close relation
with human rights.
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Aarhus Convention
The Aarhus Convention is particularly significant, as it not so much prescribes
mutual obligations for the participating countries than determines the basic
principles how to form relations between the state and the public in the area of
environmental protection, establishing an internationally recognised standard.
Aarhus Convention guarantees the public (any of its member) the
following individual rights:
 the right to access environmental information at the
disposal of the state;
 the right to participate in environmental decisionmaking;
 the right to apply to court in environmental matters.
The Aarhus Convention is based on the idea that if the public is active and wellinformed, it can be a powerful force in sustainable and environment-friendly
development. Therefore, the members of society are not required to provide reasons
as to why they need any specific environmental information.
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PUBLIC RIGHT TO HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
The public has a right to participate:
 in adopting environment-related decisions,
 on issuing permits for polluting activities or construction of major
infrastructure objects,
 in the environmental impact assessment process.
Exercising their rights to participation, members of the public may
express their opinions and concerns with regard to the proposed plans,
projects or activities.
The institution that takes the decision, in turn, has an obligation to take into account
and evaluate these opinions and concerns.
Furthermore, if the institution rejected the people’s protest against the proposed
project, it is obliged to give reasons for such rejection.
If these public rights are violated, everyone, including non-governmental
organisations (environmental associations), is entitled to apply to court to protect the
infringed public rights.
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THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION !