Czech Republic

II. Main elements of EU environmental legislation embodied or becoming adopted in the national legal system

In this chapter:

Environmental regulation of constitutional character

The Constitution of the Czech Republic of December 16, 1992, published in No 1/1993 S.B., incorporates the Bill of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms which states among other things:

Chapter four - Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Article 35

  1. Everyone has the right to a favorable environment.
  2. Everyone has the right to timely and complete information on the state of the environment and natural resources.
  3. In the implementation of his/her rights, no one may endanger or damage the environment, natural resources, the natural diversity of species, or cultural monuments beyond the measure defined by law.

Act No 17/1992 S.B., on the Environment, together with the above cited Constitution of the Czech Republic, may be considered as forming the basic framework for defining environmental control in the Czech Republic.

Basic principles of environmental protection are laid down in the Act related to the Environment. Purpose of the Act is expressed in Article 1:

"The act defines the basic terms and determines the basic principles of environmental protection and the obligations of legal and natural persons in the process of protecting and improving the environment and in the use of natural resources; this act follows the principle of permanently sustainable development."

The act incorporates "The Principles of Environmental Protection": Article 11 - "The territory [of the Czech Republic] must not be burdened by human activity in excess of the level of acceptable load."

Article 12 -

  1. "The acceptable level of environmental pollution is determined by limit values stipulated by special regulations, and these values are determined in accordance with the existing state of knowledge in such a way as to prevent damage to health, other living organisms, or other components of the environment."
  2. "Limit values must be determined with regard to the possible cumulative effects or synergetic effects of pollutants or polluting activities."

Article 13 - "If, considering all the circumstances, it can be assumed that irreversible or serious damage could threaten the environment, any doubt concerning the realistic nature of such threat can not be a reason for postponing measures intended to prevent such damage."

Article 14 - "Every individual has the right to true and accurate information about the state and development of the environment, the causes and consequences of that state, activities being prepared which could alter the environment, as well as to information about measures taken by the authorities responsible for environmental protection in order to prevent or remedy environment damage. A special regulation may stipulate cases in which such information can be restricted or withheld."

Article 15 - "Everyone may approach the relevant authority and claim, in a prescribed manner, his or her legal rights stipulated by this act and other laws and regulations concerning the environment."

Article 16 - "Education is implemented in such a way as to promote thinking and activity which comply with the principle of permanently sustainable development, and which encourages awareness of responsibility for maintaining the quality of the environment and its individual components and of respect for life in all its forms."

The act regulates the environmental impact assessment of activities (Articles 20 - 23), regarding also their cross-border consequences (Articles 24 - 26)

Further, the act defines sanctions for damages incurred to the environment in Article 28 and in Article 31 (Economic Tools), providing the basis for applying economic instruments in environmental protection and conservation.

The act authorizes the issuance of special provisions, which provide the details.

Annexes 1 - 4 of the act lay down the activities subject to EIA, stating the content of the respective documentation and intended activities subject to international negotiations, and defines the required content of the respective documentation.

The Act related to the Environment does not explicitly state the principle of integrity. An amendment of the said act is not at present considered a priority of the legislative process of the Czech Republic because its day-to-day interpretation by bodies of state administration fully complies with the treaty establishing the European Economic Community, as amended by the Single European Act.

General environmental policy

Council Recommendation 75/436 Eurotom, ECSC, EEC- Polluter Pays Principle

The Polluter Pays Principle is respected in all "component" laws (Clean Air Act, Waste Management Act, Water Act, Act related to the State Environment Fund) of the Czech Republic relating to the environment and its implementation is mainly observed through the implementation provisions of the respective laws.

The implementation of the said principle is subject to certain modifications with regard to attained technical progress and the economic situation of the country (i.e., as it determines the allowable level of sanction fees and improving the availability of advanced technologies).

Council Directive 85/337/EEC - Environmental Impact Assessment

The Act of the Czech National Council No 244/1992 S.B., on Environmental Impact Assessment, may be considered to be an adequate implementation of the Directive (together with the Act related to the Environment).

Decree of the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic No 492/1992, S.B., on specialist authorization for assessing environmental impacts and on the manner and course of the public hearing of the expertise, contains practical guidelines for the observance of the act.

Annexes 1 - 4 specify the activities which are subject to legal passage, the content of documentation, evaluation, manner of public hearing, etc. The annexes to the decree contain the examination regulations and a summary of knowledge which should be tested in the examination.

Council Directive 90/313/EEC - Access to environmental information

The above cited Constitution of the Czech Republic (Bill of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms) Chapter 4, Article 35 (2) guarantees the right to environmental information for all citizens of the Czech Republic. Under Article 14 of the Act related to the Environment (cited above), every individual of the Czech Republic has the right to information on the state and development of the environment. It is further provided that such information may be refused under a special notice to this effect. No other specification of a possible information process is given in the law. The Report on the State of the Environment in the Czech Republic is issued every year and published and disseminated widely. Special departments exist at the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic (Sectorial Information Center) and at the Czech Environmental Institute (Center of Environmental Information) where environmental information can be obtained.

Council Regulation EEC/92/880 - Eco-label award scheme

The National Program of Marking Environmentally Friendly Products was adopted by Decree No 159/1993 of the government of the Czech Republic. The said program is based on and gradually being fully harmonized with EU provisions for awarding the label "environmentally friendly product" for various groups of products (e.g. Council Reg. 880/92). The transition to the EC system is merely a matter of formal interventions (standardized questionnaire, standardization of contract forms, fees, etc.).

Council Regulation EEC/92/1973 - Financial Instrument for Environment (LIFE)

Act of the Czech National Council No 388/1991 S.B., on the State Environment Fund of the Czech Republic, establishes a financial instrument for supporting projects aiming at improvement of the environment. Financial means for the Environment Fund are acquired from fees for environmental pollution set under the law. Priority actions are determined every year whose implementation is funded. Funding is provided in form of allocations and low-interest loans. An expert evaluation is required for every application for such funding. The idea of establishing a fund at national level is the same as that which led to the establishment of the LIFE fund at the level of the community.

Council Regulation EEC/93/1836 - Eco-management and audit scheme

Only a one-off ecological audit is currently required under the law in the Czech Republic to identify old prevailing environmental loads in connection with the transfer of property in the privatization process. Industrial enterprises, namely those interested in exporting their products are showing increasing interest in periodical environmental audits of their products and in the introduction of the system of eco-management (ISO standard 14 000). Council regulation 1836/93 has not been reflected in national legislation yet but a legal norm is being prepared (start of drafting on inter-ministerial level) concerning the role of state administration in the application of the EMAS system. Technical standards are being drafted too and most probably those will be identical with standards ISO 14000 and 9000. An amendment of Act on the Environment is being considered. Any speedier introduction of the system is to some extent being hampered by the absence of laws on the complex handling of chemical substances and preparations and the fact that the new act on waste management (see below) has not yet been passed by parliament.

Proposal for a Council Directive 93/C 311/O6 - Integrated pollution prevention and control

A law specifically addressing IPPC does not exist. The basic concept of integrated environmental control (i.e. not splitting of the environment into components) is contained in the state environmental policy document of 1995 and implicitly in Act No 17/1992 S.B., relating to the Environment. The fundamental concept of the indivisibility (integrity) of impacts of the individual technical "components" of the environment - i.e., the so-called integrated approach to environmental protection - is to a certain extent applied in the Clean Air Act and in the new Waste Management Act (see below), and implicitly in other legal norms and decrees.

Air

In the Czech Republic, air pollution control is currently ruled by the following legal norms:

The legal provisions concerning air protection belong among the best specified in the area of environmental control. There exist registers of air polluters (REZZO), which serve as the basis for fees paid for air pollution and for emission inventories. The Clean Air Act is continuously being amended and the main hindrance to any major improvement of air quality is not poor or inadequate laws but the technical capacity to observe them.

While the level of harmonization with EU law is fairly high, the level of enforcement of provisions depends mainly on technical conditions.

Council Directive 70/220/EEC - emissions from motor vehicles

Provisions of the European communities on the operation of motor vehicles have been monitored since 1970 and their content has been adopted into the corresponding legal norms of the Czech Republic. Act No 38/1995 S.B., on the operation of motor vehicles on roads, authorizes the issuance of implementation provisions, complying with technical progress in this area (e.g., the latest Decree of the Ministry of Transport No 102/1995 S.B., and others). The existing legal norms fully conform with EU laws.

Council Directive 82/884/EEC - lead in air

The above-cited 1992 Measure of the Federal Committee for the Environment relating to the Clean Air Act in its annex contains limits for air polluting substances. The lead limit is four times less than the respective EU limit. This is similar in the case of most other pollutants as well. The Automated Emission Monitoring System (AIM) is run by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, which regularly samples air quality. The data are published in yearbooks.

Council Directive 84/360/EEC - industrial plants

Council Directive 89/369/EEC - new municipal waste incinerators

Both directives are under scrutiny in a detailed study within the PHARE program undertaken by the Ministry of the Environment. The basic principles of the directives fully conform the Clean Air Act of the Czech Republic in respect of limits and registers with the principles of the state environmental policy. The study is expected to demonstrate the need for, and thus to initiate, legislative amendments.

Council Decision 93/389/EEC - Monitoring mechanism of Community CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions

The Czech Republic is party to the UN Framework Convention on Global Climate Change and as such it is meeting its commitments as an Annex 1 country. A project is now being carried out within the Program of Environmental Care (of the Ministry of the Environment) with the aim of preparing greenhouse gas emissions inventories. The first part of the project has just been completed, on inventories based on energy supply data, and the next steps will consist of the implementation of the above-mentioned EC Decision. The technical conditions of a monitoring mechanism are being studied and the results will be ready at the end of 1996.

Proposal for a Council Directive 94/C 216/O4 - Ambient air quality assessment and management

The proposal is being studied by the Department of Air Protection and the Department of Strategy and Environmental Statistics of the Ministry of the Environment.

Chemicals, industrial risks and biotechnology

The complex handling of chemicals in the Czech Republic is provided temporarily and inadequately by the Act of the Czech National Council No 68/1992 S.B., on public health care. Other legal norms (e.g., Government decrees, Ministry of Health decrees) provide only for the handling of poisons and some substances hazardous to health.

The existing legal norm is considered inadequate and currently two acts of law are being drafted which should cover the entire scope of handling chemical substances and preparations, including provisions on the marketing of and trade in the said substances and preparations.

Commission Directive 67/548/EEC - Classification, packaging and labeling of dangerous substances

The Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment, is drafting an act of law on the regulation of the manufacture, export and import, transport, and use of chemical substances and preparations, which, on adoption should fully comply with the respective EU norms. At present, the draft law is under review by the individual competent ministries. Also being drafted are implementation regulations - issuance will be authorized by the said act, including provisions on technical standardization insofar as this proves necessary.

Council Directive 82/501/EEC - Industrial accidents and emergency response

The problem of precluding and averting industrial hazards and accidents and resolving their consequences is not currently provided for by any separate legal norm. Alongside the integrated information system which is being built for the purposes of the civil defense of the country, there are, at present, in full or partial operation, the automatic emission monitoring system (AIM), the early warning system for radiation danger, the information system on waste, and several other problem-oriented information systems, such as ISO, the air quality information system; and HIS, the Hydra-ecological Information System. A new legal norm is being drafted, but the speed of its completion and adoption to some extent depends on the pace at which the appropriate technical background is developed.

Council Decision 89/569/EEC - Good Laboratory Practice

The Principles of Good Laboratory Practice, now published as a booklet, will be included in the act on the regulation of the manufacture, export and import, transport, and use of chemical substances and preparations.

Council Regulation 90/EEC/220 - Genetically Modified Organisms

The comprehensive approach to the handling of genetically modified organisms and the approach to biotechnology's in general, including the correct assessment of environmental risks, is not provided by any separate legal norm. The possibilities and form of such a legal norm are currently under study.

Council Regulation 793/93/EEC - Evaluation and control of the risks of existing substances

In addition to the above-mentioned law on the handling of chemical substances and preparations, the Ministry of the Environment is also responsible for the drafting of an act of law concerning the registration and notification of chemicals. The act should contain among other things regulations for the assessment of environmental risks from existing and newly developed chemical substances and preparations.

Nature

In the Czech Republic, the protection of nature and the landscape is ruled by the following basic legal norms:

Decrees issued by the government and by the Ministry of the Environment have provided for the establishment of State Nature Reserves, Protected Landscape Areas and National Parks, for whose administration special operating instructions or regulations have been issued.

The Nature Protection Agency of the Czech Republic was established in 1994.

Council Directive 79/409/EEC - Conservation of wild birds

Council Directive 92/43/EEC - Conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna

The content of the above two directives is transformed through the following international conventions.

The Czech Republic joined the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals in 1994, and the text of the said convention is printed as number 127/1994 S.B. The Czech Republic joined the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitats in 1990 and the said convention is printed as number 396/1990 S.B. Accession to the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats is being discussed and prepared.

The Czech Republic joined the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora - CITES in 1992 and the convention is printed under number 572/1992 S.B.

Noise

In the Czech Republic, the problem of noise emissions fully falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and permissible sound levels are ruled by decrees issued by the Chief Hygiene Inspector of the Czech Republic. The same applies to noise surveillance and monitoring procedures and methods. The EC provisions cited below have not yet been incorporated into the existing law, and their implementation is only being studied.

Council Directive 70/157/EEC - Permissible sound level and the exhaust system of motor vehicles

The operation of motor vehicles on roads is ruled by Act No 38/1995 S.B. The act is being continuously amended in line with changing economic conditions in the Czech Republic and attained technical progress in this area. Noise level is tested within the procedure of eco-audits carried out by garages and car repair and maintenance services. The Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic is currently conducting a detailed analysis of the cited Directive with regard to any possible need to amend the existing respective technical standards of the Czech Republic.

Council Directive 86/594/EEC - Airborne noise emitted by household appliances

The airborne noise emitted by households appliances will further be monitored within the "Environmentally friendly product" program (i.e., the eco-label scheme).

The need to introduce a new law on this front in the Czech Republic is not anticipated.

Waste

In the Czech Republic, waste management is currently ruled by the following legal norms:

The cited legal norms represent a comprehensive collection of legal norms ruling waste management and at the time of their adoption they represented a qualitative change in the approach to waste management. The Waste Act emphasizes the need to minimize or even avert waste production, mentioning waste recycling and regeneration. From today's point of view (and with regard to the further cited EU provisions), the said act does not define with adequate clarity the responsibility for waste disposal, nor does it specify with adequate detail sanctions for violations of the said law, furthermore, the act permits exemptions and concessions. It does not adequately provide for the problem of packaging and packaging waste. It does mention the category of waste specified for recycling (secondary raw materials), but the movement thereof is not provided for in the sense of the OECD Control System, which has virtually been assumed without any modifications or amendments by the EU. Neither the concept nor the structure of the Catalogue of Waste correspond to the recently adopted European Catalogue. The same applies to the categorization of waste (i.e., the definition of hazardousness and the catalogue of hazardous wastes).

A draft of a new law on waste has been approved by government and submitted to parliament for adoption. The new law on waste is expected to come into force in the beginning of 1997. Implementation decrees and notices, methodological guidelines, technical standards, and provisions for administrative support are currently being drafted.

Council Directive 75/442/EEC - Waste framework

Council Directive 91/689/EEC - Hazardous waste

Council Directive 94/67/EC - Incineration of hazardous waste

The new law on waste should be fully compatible with the above-cited EU Directives. The new Catalogue of Wastes is identical with the EU catalogue along general lines (some groups are further vertically sub-divided) and the definition of waste is identical with the EU definition. The same applies to hazardous waste. The draft act also rules the management of packaging and packaging waste and the control of transboundary movement of waste for treatment. The responsibilities of waste producers regarding waste disposal are more clearly defined, landfilling of waste is less economical (i.e., the fees are much higher), and new obligations duties are imposed on the operators of waste treatment and disposal plants.

Technical prerequisites for the operation of a unified network for waste disposal and treatment (in the sense of EU and OECD rules) have not yet been put in place, and the act therefore authorizes the respective bodies to adopt further provisions to supplement the law with regard to implementation.

Council Directive 85/339/EEC - Containers of liquids for human consumption

The said Directive has been taken into account in the draft Waste Act and is considered in other acts of law concerning the protection of consumers. Some concrete problems of packaging are expected to be ruled on by measures relating to the Waste Act.

Proposal for a Council Directive 93/C 212/02 - landfill of waste

A new draft technical standard ruling waste landfilling has been completed which complies with the present state of the cited EU proposal, including the annexes. Once the standard is finished, it will be mentioned in the new Waste Management Act and will have legal force.

Water

With regard to environmental control, water management in the Czech Republic is ruled by the following legal norms:

It may be generally stated that like air pollution control, water pollution control is well covered by law. The legal norms of the European Communities have been monitored for many years and their content considered in the drafting of Czech laws and standards. The same as in air pollution control, some permissible limits are stricter than are those of the EU. The Czech Republic is linked to the international hydrological data exchange network and the finalisation of the process of harmonizing the respective legal norms with those of the EU is, in most cases, only a matter of formal adaptation (insofar as this is at all necessary). The problem of adaptation lies in transformation of the national system of technical standards where the national technical standards (éSN) are gradually substituted by ISO or EN standards.

An extensive project is currently under way (partly within the framework of the PHARE Program) with the aim of conducting a detailed analysis of all EU legal norms relating to drinking and utility water, the management of groundwater sources, their protection, and also pollution control.

An amendment of the Water Act is being drafted. There are certain delays and complications in this respect, mainly owing to the ongoing privatization process (i.e., instances of obscure ownership relations with regard to water sources). The protection of waters falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, partly also under that of the Ministry of Health, which requires thorough and consistent inter-ministerial and inter-sectorial discussions and approaches.

Council Directive 75/440/EEC - Drinking water

Council Directive 76/160/EEC - Quality of bathing water

Under the present legal norms, these subjects fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and are partly covered by guidelines issued by the Chief Hygiene Inspector of the Czech Republic. Within the process of harmonization they will be studied and reconsidered, possibly amended (Act No 138/1973 S.B., Regulation 171/1992 S.B.). Ministerial responsibilities will probably be changed, shifted, or concentrated.

Council Directive 76/464/EEC - Dangerous substance discharges

Council Directive 80/68/EEC - Protection of groundwater against pollution

The above Directives have their counterparts in the above-cited Government Decree 171/1992 S.B. The full harmonization of the Water Act of the Czech Republic with the cited EU Directives will require certain amendments to be made in Act No 138/1973 S.B. and the amendments of the cited Government Decree 171/1992 S.B. (i.e., ownership rights, control systems, technical standards).

Proposal for a Council Directive 94/C 222/06 - the ecological quality of water

This proposal is under study by the Department of Water Protection and the Department of Strategy and Environmental Statistics of the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic. A detailed analysis of the said proposal, with references to its possible impact on national laws and/or environmental policy, will be part of the project entitled "Implementation of the European Agreement for the State Environmental Policy of the Czech Republic" (1995), which has been commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment.

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