Slovak Republic

I. Introduction

The constitution is the basis of the environmental legislation system. There also exists a general environmental Act No 17/1992, but this contains only basic definitions and principles of environmental protection and has no significance for enforcement purposes. The most important environmental legislation is found in the sectorally based environmental acts (on water, air protection etc.) and their related regulations. The objective of most of these acts is to protect a single sector of the environment, but recently there have been a number of complex new acts adopted, such as Act No 127/1994 on Environmental Impact Assessment, as well as the draft of the act governing access to environmental information. A complete list of environmental legal norms adopted in areas within the responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment is appended to this report.

The new environmental legislation regulates many serious interventions in economic matters and also utilizes economic tools (for example, charges for water or air pollution, etc.)

The Ministry of the Environment is responsible for environmental administration and for drafting environmental legislation. There are 38 county and 121 district environmental offices reporting to the Ministry. Also reporting to the Ministry is the Slovak Environmental Inspectorate, which is responsible for monitoring the extent to which environmental legislation is obeyed, as well as for locating any violation which may incur a punishment or penalty.

Within the responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment falls the protection of the quality of water, air protection, nature protection, waste management, environmental impact assessment, monitoring, territorial planning and building law. Other departments and their responsibilities are:

• Ministry of Agriculture - forests, soil, water supply;
• Office of Nuclear Supervision - nuclear safety, radioactive waste;
• Ministry of the Economy - chemicals, noise;
• Ministry of Health - noise, worker safety and health;
• Ministry of Transport, Post and Telecommunications - mobile air pollution sources.

Municipalities have two roles in environmental protection:

1. as a local government entity; and
2. as a part of state administrative organs delegated authority by a specific law. (For example, handling community waste is a local government responsibility, but decisions regarding minor air pollution sources is a state responsibility delegated by a law to the municipalities).

There is a new proposal added to the Civil Code regarding responsibility for damage caused by dangerous operations, which allows for the right to take legal action against a polluter.

The new Article 420a sets down that any person can be held responsible for damage caused to another (person) by working activity. The damage is also deemed as being caused by working activity in cases where it is caused by physical, chemical or biological influence of the operation on the surroundings.

Acquittal of liability for such damage is possible only in two cases:

1. if the operator proves that the damage was caused by an irreversible occurrence which did not have its origin in the operation; or
2. the damage was caused by the injured party themselves.

This Article 420a sets down an objective civil liability for environmental damage.

In the Criminal Code, new articles have been added dealing specifically with protection of the environment and its various sectors.

The first crime concerns jeopardizing the environment with ill-advised or negligent activity. A special article protects some species of flora and fauna, and a further special article concerns the unauthorized import, export and transport of hazardous waste.

The government has approved Priorities for Harmonization of the Slovak law with the EU law, and a White Paper establishing the steps necessary for this harmonization.

Approximation began spontaneously with the creation of new legislation after 1989, when the EU law was taken as a model for the Ministry of the Environment. The process of approximation is now a permanent part of the system of legislative development. The legislative department at the Ministry of the Environment receives all valid EU environmental legislation and also the Official Journal from the PHARE Program. The legislative department has a special section which has begun to coordinate the approximation process for the ministry in general.

The government now requires all laws which are submitted to have a statement regarding their level of approximation with EU law.