Slovak Republic

Current Situation

Political Situation

Economic Situation¹

Environmental Expenditures

The State Environmental Fund receives money from state budget donations (36.8 percent), waste water charges (33.3 percent), air emission charges (25.4 percent) and solid waste payments (2.5 percent). The Fund had a total of USD 35 million for 1994; only one in twenty applicants received funding. The new Act on the State Environmental Fund is now prepared for submission to the Cabinet in the second half of 1995. According to this act, the Fund would be restructured into a revolving fund, creating larger financial resources.

The main impediment to increasing environmental investment is limited government guarantees. Environmental investments are generally less profitable and less attractive for foreign investors, and are considered long term. That is why most foreign assistance loans require governmental guarantees, often 1.5 to 2 times the size of the loan. Because Slovakia has a tight state budget, a young banking sector, and has not been able to recover all past environmental damages, the government simply cannot afford to guarantee all necessary projects.

Environmental Priorities²

The state of the environment is reflected in the health and quality of life of the nation.where life expectancy is five to seven years less than in developed countries.

The Slovak Republic's environmental priorities are based on a 1993 document entitled "The Strategy, Principles and Priorities of the State Governmental Environmental Policy," which establishes the following five priorities:

• global environmental security and protection of the atmosphere against pollutants
• an adequate supply of drinking water and reduction of water pollution to acceptable levels
• soil conservation and the purity of foodstuffs and other products
• proper disposal or utilization of waste and minimization of its production
• preservation of biodiversity, conservation and rational use of natural resources, and optimizing land use

The government recently identified the need to conduct environmental audits in the privatization procedure. Unfortunately, such audits have not yet been used to evaluate specific projects. Like other countries, the Slovak Republic is struggling with privatization issues, such as how to assign environmental liability from formerly state-owned enterprises and how to factor remediation cost into the purchase price.

The state of the environment in Slovakia has improved over the last five years as a result of declining industrial production. Slovakia has reduced the emission of sulphur dioxide by 58 percent compared to the year 1980. However, it still produces approximately 325,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per year, mostly generated by heating and power plants. Energy production, including heating, accounts for 64 percent of the total emission of pollutants into the atmosphere, and vehicular traffic contributes 19.5 percent. Pollution of surface and ground water is an extensive problem in 16 districts.

The waste management system in the Slovak Republic is one of its most under-developed areas. Prior to 1991, only 5 percent of recorded landfills were licensed and, in most cases, different categories of waste were disposed together (hazardous, special, etc.). According to Waste Act 238/1991, waste generators are responsible for managing their own waste and municipalities are responsible for municipal waste. This act and subsequent legislation also define duties for both generators and state administrative agencies responsible for waste management. The Waste Act allows a five-year period, until 31 July 1996, to meet waste management requirements. Facing economic hardship, the government postponed the fixed deadline to the year 2000, passed as Act 255/1993. The Ministry of Environment prepared, and the government approved, the Waste Management Program of the Slovak Republic, which defines targets and measures for short-, medium- and long-term periods to the year 2005.

Regulatory and Enforcement Environment

Since the April 1993 Ministerial Conference in Lucerne several important steps have been taken to improve the situation. First, the Slovak Republic clearly declared its intention to solve complex environmental problems and established a framework for carrying this out. The document, entitled Strategy, Principles and Priorities of the Governmental Environmental Policy, establishes short-, medium- and long-term objectives in the most important sectors of environmental protection. However, this document is just a policy statement that does not address implementation.

A second important step is the process of harmonizing Slovak legislation with that of the EU. Several significant acts on air, waste and nature protection, and the Act on Environmental Impact Assessment (Nr. 127/1994), have been adopted. New acts on water protection and ozone layer protection are under preparation.

Key Actors in Environmental Protection at the National Level

Trade associations and NGOs play a marginal yet growing role in protecting the Slovak environment. There are many NGO's active in the environmental arena. Similarly, the number of trade associations, such as the Association of Industrial Ecology (ASPEK), continue to grow and participate in the environmental debate.

Status of the Polish Environmental Business Sector

The companies operating in this sector are very young, and very small; more than 65 percent were formed in the last five years and 67 percent have less than 25 employees. Privatization is going well according to the survey, 87 percent of the companies are not state-owned.

Slovak companies offer a wide range of services and products, with no particular environmental service generating more than 25 percent of total revenues. Almost half of combined company revenues came from providing technical services (engineering, consulting and research), especially from municipal water and solid waste projects.

Revenues from services were followed by revenues from the sale or manufacture of environmental products, a sector that captured 40 percent of the total. Products primarily related to municipal solid waste generated the most revenues. Laboratory activities (analysis and examination) captured approximately 14 percent of company revenues.

When looking at media-specific areas, water-related activities generated approximately 34 percent of company revenues. The next two highest revenue generating media areas were solid waste-related activities (29 percent) and air-related activities (13 percent).

The following section presents the responses and selected correlations from the REC's survey of Slovak environmental businesses.