Lithuania

I. Introduction

In order to achieve these goals, Lithuania has focused on several neglected areas which demand a priority approach: the reorganization of environmental legislation and review of current environmental standards; creation of an effective Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) program to prevent the development of new pollution sources; introduction of economic incentives to encourage adherence on the part of industry to improve environmental standards and to increase liability for emission of pollutants; improvement of monitoring systems on a national scale to strengthen the means by which policy-making institutions are provided with necessary information on new legislation, and national guidelines as the reform process continues; establishing of an environmental education system, etc.

In January 1992, the Lithuanian parliament passed the Environmental Protection Act of the Republic of Lithuania. This formed the basis for legal measures within the national environmental protection policy. The act determines principles and general regulations of the environmental protection system as a whole. It is essentially a framework law which defines the system for environmental protection, lists the principal issues to be addressed in subsidiary legislation, and describes in broad outline the responsibilities of specified organizations for environmental protection. On the basis of the act, work on drafting sectoral environmental laws and other regulations started in the early months of 1993. At the present time in the Republic of Lithuania, there are three main legal regulations in force for environmental protection and use of natural resources. Several acts of environmental protection legislation passed during the period of Soviet occupation are still in force (e.g. the Atmosphere Protection Act, passed in 1981, and the Water Code, approved in 1973). The main sectoral environmental laws passed by parliament following the re-establishment of the independence of Lithuania are as follows:

• Act relating to Taxes on State-Owned Natural Resources, with the Governmental Act "Rates for Taxes on State Natural Resources" (1991);
• Act related to Taxes on Environmental Pollution, with appendices: "The main tariffs of taxes on water pollution", "The main tariffs of taxes on atmosphere pollution", "Ways to calculate increased and preferential tariffs" (1991);
• Act related to Protected Areas (1993);
• Code on Administrative Offenses (1984) amended with provisions on the environment: 1994.

The following laws have been drafted or are in the process of being drafted at present:

• Waste Management Act (approved by the government and submitted to parliament);
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act (submitted to government);
• Act related to Chemical Substances (in the stage of preparation);
• Atmosphere Protection Act (in the stage of preparation);
• Water Act (submitted to government);
• Act related to Ecological Monitoring (submitted to the government);
• Territorial Planning Act (in the stage of preparation);
• Radiological Safety Act (in the stage of preparation);
• Wild Fauna Act (approved by government and submitted to parliament);
• Flora Act (in the stage of preparation);
• Act on protected Fauna, Flora and Mushroom species and Communities (approved by government and submitted to parliament);
• Sea Protection Act (in the stage of preparation).

In order to ensure the effective implementation of environmental legislation, parliament established the Environmental Protection Department in 1990. The department was set up to serve as the primary state institution regulating environmental administration. In June 1994, the department was reorganized as the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

According to the Environmental Protection Act, the MEP responsible for environmental protection management and state regulation of the use of natural resources has the main responsibilities as follows:

• to implement the national environmental strategy, prepare the national long-term and special-purpose programs for environmental protection and use of natural resources;
• to prepare the drafts of laws, government resolutions and other legal acts on issues of environmental protection and the use of national resources; organize preparation of special territorial planning documents of state importance on issues of environmental protection; within its competence, to coordinate the drafts of legal acts from the ministries, other governmental bodies, district, local, municipal and other institutions on issues of environmental protection and the use of natural resources, as well as territorial planning documents;
• to prepare and approve the norms, standards and rules for environmental protection and use of natural resources;
• to determine the limits and conditions for the use of natural resources;
• to determine and control the norms and method of accounting for the emission of pollutants, and to determine the method for issuance of permits for the emission of pollutants (including radioactive materials);
• to determine the order of production, import, transportation, transit, export, use, storage, utilization and accounting for dangerous chemical substances and dangerous waste; as well as cooperating with other authorized institutions to determine the order of import, export, transportation, transit, use, storage, decontamination, utilization and accounting for radioactive substances and microorganisms; in addition to determining the norms of radiation safety;
• to determine the method of Environmental Impact Assessment;
• to prepare and improve methods of calculation of damage inflicted upon the environment;
• to develop the state fund for nature conservation and dispose of its resources.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection consists of a central organ and eight regional departments which have jurisdiction of more than five districts each. There are environmental protection agencies in districts and several cities which belong to the MEP as well. The enforcement of environmental legislation in Lithuania is, at present, essentially the responsibility of the regional departments and district agencies of the MEP.

The use of natural resources and environmental quality regulations also falls under the jurisdiction of the relevant ministries (Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Construction and Urban Development, Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Industry and Trade) and the Geological Survey.

Management of environmental protection in municipalities is carried out by relevant local municipal institutions, in accordance with the order established by law.

Civil liability for environmental damage is indicated in the Environmental Protection Act, the Code on Violations of Administrative Act, and the Civil and Criminal Codes of the Republic of Lithuania.

The right to bring persons guilty of the violation of environmental law to account is regulated in the Code on Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Lithuania (approved 1994). Environmental provisions are also included in several Articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania (Article 245 - on offenses against environmental laws; Article 245 - on water, soil and air pollution; Article 330 - on illegal hunting; Article 331 - on illegal fishing or catching of rare and endangered animals; Article 332 - on the violation of the laws governing the continental shelf of the Republic of Lithuania, etc.).

With the aim of better approximation of EU and national legislation, special units, working groups or commissions in the ministries and other authorized institutions were established recently. The Governmental European Integration Commission was established under the leadership of the prime minister. A special unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - the Department of European Integration - was also founded. For EU and Lithuanian environmental law approximation, the Working Group at the Ministry of Environmental Protection has been established.