Bulgaria

I. Introduction

• Institutional strengthening of environmental policy, the building up and developing of structures for the effective realization of priority objectives;
• Development and perfection of a system of financial and economical mechanisms and of regulators for environmental management;
• Planning and realization of priority managerial activities with regard to protection and control of the environmental situation, natural resources and the biological diversity;
• Completion and perfection of the system of environmental legislation and the normative procedure of environmental management, protection and control;
• Development and perfection of the national system of environmental monitoring;
• Integration with the environmental policy and the environmental legislation of the European Union, development of bilateral and multilateral collaboration with the European Union;
• Providing for ample information about the environment and participation of non-governmental organizations in the fulfillment of environmental policy.

In accordance with Art. 4 of the Environmental Protection Act, the Parliament annually adopts and publishes - based upon the report of the government - an annals on the state of the environment in the country. The priority bills on environmental protection approved by the government and filed for approval by parliament are, as follows:

• Bill related to clean air,
• Bill related to water,
• Bill related to agricultural land protection,
• Bill related to underground natural resources.

The following bills have been submitted to the government for approval:

• Bill related to marine environment protection,
• Bill related to limiting the harmful impact of domestic, construction and production waste on the environment.

In view of the statute of the Republic of Bulgaria as a country associated to the European Union, and in fulfillment of its obligations in connection with the European Agreement of association (entered into force: 1995), the government has taken the following organizational steps for the harmonization of its environmental legislation with EU environmental legislation:

• A governmental program to accelerate the approximation of the legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria to the legislation of the European Union has been adopted;
• A governmental committee for European integration as a consulting body within the government has been established by the prime minister under his control;
• A Coordination Commission for European integration at the level of deputy minister and working groups at the level of experts has been created to work on the problems of approximating legislation and on environmental problems;
• Control of the conformity of the newly adopted laws with the law of the European Union is conducted by the Ministry of Justice.

Among the environmental laws valid at present, the most important are:

• Environmental Protection Act of 1991;
• Act related to protection of air, water and soil from pollution, of 1963;
• Act related to nature protection, of 1967;
• Act related to waters, of 1969;
• Act related to the marine environment of the Republic of Bulgaria, of 1987;
• Act related to the protection of arable land and pastures, of 1973;
• Act related to forestry, of 1958;
• Act related to hunting, of 1982;
• Fisheries act of 1982.

The general Environmental Protection Act comprises 35 articles. It marks the beginning of a new normative system for environmental legislation, by setting forth objectives, strategies and general normative requirements for the state environmental policy, and also of the powers and duties of the state authorities, companies and the general public, in correspondence with their constitutional powers and duties.

The Environmental Protection Act is based on three leading principles: the 'polluter pays', pollution prevention, and the right to information. The Environmental Protection Act also regulates the procedures for environmental impact assessment of projects, facilities and activities, the raising of a national and of municipal environmental funds whose financial means consists of the income from imposed sanctions and fines.

The general Environmental Protection Act was passed in 1991. On the basis of this law, a great number of sub-law normative acts have been adopted.

In the Criminal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria, specific crimes related to environmental protection and to protected natural areas as well as flora and fauna, have been provided for. The most important of these are:

Art. 353 providing imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to 50,000 Lv (1 USD = 70 Lv).for an official who puts an enterprise or a thermal electric station into operation or allows this to occur if the necessary purification equipment has not been put into operation. The same penalty is imposed on an official failing to perform his/her duties for the construction of the necessary purification equipment, and to secure its serviceability and proper operation.

Art. 352 A) providing imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to 1 million Lv for persons who pollute territorial or maritime waters, or let them be polluted with petrol products, in zones defined by international treaty.

Art. 278 B) providing imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to 5,000 Lv for a person who destroys or damages a protected natural site. In cases where exclusively precious single and irreversible land formations, wild animals, or birds and plants declared to be unique have been damaged, imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 100,000 Lv have been provided for.

The basic authorities and organizations whose duties are geared primarily to protecting environmental interests are, as follows:

• the Parliamentary Commission on Environmental Protection and on Water Resources;
• the Ministry of Environment;
• the municipality authorities;

Environmental control, monitoring and protection - including the protection of natural resources and of biological diversity - are performed by the Ministry of Environment and its divisions, mainly the 16 regional environmental inspection offices and the National Center for the Environment and Sustainable Development.

The regional environmental inspection offices are the local authorities of the ministry, and cover the whole country. They have controlling, licensing and monitoring functions.

The National Center for the Environment and Sustainable Development organizes the activity of the national automated system for ecological monitoring by managing and controlling the regional environmental inspection offices with respect to environmental monitoring. Further, the National Center collects, stores, processes, analyzes and disseminates information in respect of environmental conditions.

Besides the specific environmental administration, the following ministries and institutions have their competence in respect of environmental protection: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Ministry of Territorial Development and Building, the Committee of Forests, and the National Council of Water Resources at the Council of Ministers.