COUNTRY REPORTS * HUNGARY
Some years later this process slowed down and was not revitalised until the early nineties, thus environmental legislation has seen substantial delay. Among the reasons are a lack of environmental policy, overwhelming economic interests, and an absence of protection of public interests against pollution. Also, the first years of the developing market economy were to promote a relatively anti-environmentalist policy, based on a misunderstanding of real values and the real costs of pollution.
The ministry responsible for environmental protection was formed in 1987 and reshaped in 1990. The whole environmental administrative structure has been in constant change during the last decade, and this too has undermined the effectiveness of enforcement.
In the middle of the nineties, the relative neglect of environmental interests could not be sustained, among other reasons, due to Hungary's desire to join the OECD and the EU. Consequently, a more intensive environmental legislation period began, the most important point of which was the adoption of the 1995 Act which is concerned with the general rules of environmental protection.
Due to the relative backwardness of environmental legislation, a more or less new system of environmental regulation should be established, and this may take some years.
The present body of national environmental law can be divided into primary and secondary regulations. Primary regulations point directly to environmental protection. They cover the protection of the various components of the environment: land, water, air, nature, and the man-made environment. This primary regulation is mostly sectorial, within which the EIA decree of 1993 was the first real sign of integration. The secondary regulation focuses, in the first place, mostly on economic issues, but it contains such rules which have an effect on the environment as well. (e.g., the Arable Land Act)
The basic laws related to, or having significance for the environment, are the following:
According to the Association Agreement with the European Communities (signed in 1991, promulgated by Act I of 1994), the major precondition for Hungarys economic integration is the approximation of the countrys existing and future legislation to that of the Community.
For the first five-year stage of the transition period the Government adopted a comprehensive law harmonisation programme (Government resolution 21741995).
The implementation of the EC White Paper on the associated countries for integration into the Internal Market legal instruments has a priority in the law harmonisation programme. A separate committee has been established for the direction and co-ordination of the tasks of implementation.
The following state organs are responsible for law harmonisation:
Ministry of Justice:
The Minister of Justice has primary responsibility in carrying out the law harmonisation programme. In the legislative processes, the Minister of Justice has to observe the compatibility of new laws with the legal rules of the European Union, and ensure the fulfilment of the law approximation duties.
Ministry of Trade and Industry:
According to the governmental resolution on the responsibility and co-ordination of the government duties in connection with European integration (1093/1994), the co-ordination of the integration tasks in economic matters is performed under the supervision of the president of the European Affairs' Office of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Other ministries and organs of national competence:
Under government resolution 1093/1994, the ministers and the heads of other authorities with national jurisdiction are responsible, within their powers and duties, for fulfilling their tasks arising from European integration.
In particular, for the implementation of the White Paper, a government resolution defines which minister is responsible for approximation of each directive it contains. (2403/1995).
The structure of environmental administration is the following.
The governmental structure is divided according to different environmental components and the supervision of the individual environmental fields in Hungary is divided. Therefore, a profound integration of environmental policy and legislation is very important. At the same time - within the government - the Ministry for Environment and Regional Policy (hereinafter MERP) is in charge of the overall strategy of environmental policy and legislation. The MERP, co-operating also with the other ministries, is responsible for environmental issues and executes the governmental environmental policy through the activities of various offices and regional organs.
The current structure of the regional organs, as regards their tasks and jurisdiction in environmental protection, was established in 1990. Basically it is a two-tier institutional system.
The Environmental Chief Inspectorate and the subordinate twelve environmental inspectorates belong to the MERP as its decentralised organisations.
The Chief Inspectorate is a state administrative organ on the national level.
The environmental inspectorates are organised according to water catchment areas. The inspectorates in their scope practice first instance jurisdiction in specific environmental state administrative issues. The inspectorates are responsible for the following:
The nature conservation administration is a relatively separate organisational structure, headed by the MERP. The system includes nine nature conservation or national park directorates, organised according to natural areas.
The specific tasks of local governments, or municipalities, in environmental protection are regulated by Act XX of 1991 on local governments, and the Act relating to General Rules of Environmental Protection (AGREP).
The environmental concerns of civil and criminal law are the following. The major rules of the liability for the environment are embodied in the AGREP, the Civil Code, and the Criminal Code. A separate chapter of the AGREP regulates the general basis of legal liability for the environment.
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In the event of damage to the environment, the provisions of the Civil Code (Act IV of 1959) pertaining to activities with increased danger (¤ 345-346) shall be applied. These are strict liability provisions, not specifically connected to the environment.
Environmental protection in the Criminal Code (Act IV of 1978) is embodied in two crimes: causing damage to environment (¤ 280) and causing damage to nature (¤ 281) The number of cases presently in the courts is insignificant.