The right to healthy environment is declared according to Article 45 and 46 of the Constitution which states that everybody has a right to a healthy environment and is obliged to protect the environment and cultural heritage. This provision includes also the right of everybody to information on the state of the environment as well.
The freedom of expression and right to information is guaranteed under Article 26 of the Constitution which states that the state administration and self-government organs have the duty to provide information about their activities in a reasonable manner and in the official state language a favorable way in official language. Furthermore, Article 45, Section VI, deals specifically with the environmental information, granting every person the right to complete and current information on the condition of the environment and the causes and consequences of this state.
The right of free assembly (Article 28) declares the right to peaceable assembly and the conditions of the execution of this law are established by the Act on free assembly including the possibility of limitation of this right if it is necessary for the protection of rights and freedoms of others and for the protection of public order, health and properties or for the state safety. It also states that assembling cannot be conditioned by the permission of the public administration body.
The right of association is defined under Article 29 including this right for everybody with similar limitations as above, stating that political parties and movements as well as clubs, societies or other associations are independent from the state.
Under the right to petition (Article 27) this right is provided for every person, either individually or in collaboration with others, to appeal to the state administration bodies and to self-government bodies in the interest of public with applications, proposals, claims and complaints. Also, according to Article 46 of the Constitution the petition for review of decision of state or self-government body by ordinary citizen or legal person is possible. Along with this petition, the citizen may also bring the petition for review and abolition of the law or regulation.
Constitutional provisions for public participation are very general. Public participation is mostly established by separate laws like the Act on Petition Right /Nr. 85/1990 Zb./, the Act on Assembling Right /Nr. 84/1990 Zb./, the Act on Associating Right /Nr. 83/1990 Zb./ and the Act on Referendum /Nr. 564/1992 Zb.
In the Slovak legal tradition people are not accustomed to base their legal actions directly on the Constitution. However, citizens and citizen groups, and NGOs are often indirectly using the basic constitutional rights, basing their activities and actions on them.
At the same time, the right to referendum - at national as well as local level - is provided for citizens. A minimum of 350,000 voters may petition to call a referendum on national level (Articles 93 -100) on any law pertaining to basic rights and freedoms, taxes, inland revenues or the state budget enacted by the National Council. However, the National Council may legally amend or abolish the result of a referendum within three years from the date it has become effective. The referendum should be proclaimed by the President also if the session of the National Council requests it.
The right to referendum on the regional and local level is established by the provisions of the Municipal Administration Act and under the Local Elections and Referendum Act. Local referenda must be held by petition of at least 20 percent of the voters of a municipality.
There are no provisions in laws requiring public participation in the parliamentary law-making practice. Public participation in the parliamentary practice exists only in the form of indirect democracy through elected representatives. Under the Law on Negotiation Order of the National Council of Slovak Republic it is mandatory for Members of Parliament to consult with their constituents concerning laws and proposals that will be discussed in parliament. Article 65 of the law permits parliamentary committees to submit principles of law with great social impact to the public for general discussion.
Articles 13 through 15 of the Law on Members of Parliament requires MPs generally to consult with, explain to, inform and answer complaints from their constituents. Plenary sessions of the Parliament are open to public.
The public and NGOs also have limited possibilities for public participation to make an impact on the governmental legislative process. The government prepares the draft laws and submits them to the parliament. The government sometimes seeks public opinion on draft laws and then some public input is possible. Usually the Ministry of Environment has a list of different organizations including NGOs and independent experts to whom draft laws are being sent to make comments. For example, in 1993 independent experts from the NGO community contributed to the process of drafting the nature protection law.
On the local governmental level public participation can be more substantial.
The Law on the Municipal System grants to citizens the right to participate in local decisionmaking through voting for their local authorities and directly through public meetings. (Art.4). The local council is permitted under Article 11 to call public meetings for discussion of matters of great importance to the locality.Under one of the main provisions of the Municipal Administration Act /Nr. 369/1990 Zb./ adopted in September 1990 /revised in Act Nr. 481/1992/ the state administration is separated from the local self-government. This separation has the aim of introducing decentralization into public administration on the one hand and gives the basis for local public participation.
The assertion of the principle of indirect democracy led to supporting the self-governing competencies of the municipality and the municipal authorities. All internal affairs for self-governing can only be the municipality really governed if the proper means, especially financial, are available but there are big differences in the ability of municipalities to provide financial means and there are also differences in distributing them for particular purposes. Unfortunately, creation and protection of the living environment does not belong to one of them since it is not considered to be pressing and it is not profitable.
It depends on the citizens whether or not, when voting is declared or at public meetings or at self-government meetings, they put forward and approve the issues related to questions of environmental protection and public participation. The legislative power is this way available. The skilled citizens or the citizens especially concerned in some issues can apply for working in the commissions. In these commissions the citizens act as advisors and initiators in direct connection with the deputies, able to proceed in the given matter further on, using their power.
Citizens of a municipality have the right, along with the other rights, to vote on the important issues of the community life and of the municipality development, in the local referendum, to take part in the self-government meetings and in public meetings and to express his or her opinion, to submit the proposals and complaints to the municipal authorities and as for his duties, besides the others, there is the duty to take part in protecting and improving the living environment. NGOs as individuals may use also this opportunity directly or may lobby with representatives and elected officials for public participation issues regarding environmental decisionmaking. However, this possibility does not substitute direct citizen participation rights to influence decisions in local issues.
The Constitutional Court has an authority to decide on complaints lodged against legal decisions of central and local bodies of state administration as well as bodies of regional and local governments which violate the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens, if no other court deals with the protection of these rights and freedoms. These cases may be brought by any aggrieved citizen to the Constitutional Court under Article 130. (1).
Everybody whose rights have been limited by the decision of state administration authority can go to court to review this decision.
Everybody has right to compensation for the damage caused by illegal decisions made by court or by other state administration body or made by wrong administrative procedure.
The right for court protection is established in more detail by the Civic Court Code. These are Administrative Courts which are the most used form in Slovakia. There are several other laws that regulate these issues including the Law on Administration Procedure, the Civil Code, the Criminal Act, the Law on responsibility for damage caused by the decision of state body or by its wrong administrative procedure, etc.
The Law on Administrative Procedure / Nr. 71/1967 Zb./, still valid and not revised, which is dealing with the procedure where the state administration authorities can decide on the rights and duties of the citizens and organizations protected by the legislation. According to the definition of this law a party to an administrative proceeding can be a person whose rights, legally protected interests or obligations, are to be the subject of deliberation in the procedure or whose right, legally protected interests or obligations may be directly affected by the decision; a person who claims that the decision may directly affect his rights, legally protected rights or obligations, and this up to such time as it is proved otherwise; and a person or legal entity whose status as such is recognized by special legal regulations.
The party to an administrative procedure has broad rights including submission of a proposal and suggestions to the administrative authorities, submission of proofs and presenting them for scrutiny, inspecting case documentation and making extracts from it, receiving all written materials including the decision, appealing against the decision to a higher administrative organ and in some cases to the court.
It is also possible to appeal against the administrative decision within 15 days since the delivery of the decision and this appeal postpones the validity and execution of the decision. The administrative authority which issued the decision, being appealed, informs all the other subjects of the proceedings about the content of the appeal and requests them to express standpoints in a given time, and if necessary a procedure on legal remedy or if all those remedies were used and the procedural provision is still infringed.
The administrative organs are required to proceed in close cooperation with citizens and organizations and always provide them with the opportunity to effectively defend their rights and interests and especially to express their opinions on the background of the decision and to put forward their proposals. The administrative organs must provide the citizens and organizations with help and advice in order that they should not suffer a loss in the proceedings by reason of ignorance of regulations.
This provision together with the rights that parties have, may serve to allow relatively easy intervention by a party representing public interest or a concerned individual in ongoing cases. In resisting challenges to a given party's status as lacking the necessary legal interests, a party may cite Article 35 of the Basic Rights guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment. Furthermore, until such time as a party's interest is disproved, that party may have access to all relevant information related to the proceeding.
The constitutional provision on access to information, is a typical example of a declaration of rules and duties without guaranteeing their realization in practice. To guarantee these rights, there should be a general duty for the obliged subjects to create an effective information system on environmental data, compatible in environmental impacts. This way the practical effect of these laws is just to inform all entrepreneurs that the public has some right to information.
The General Law of the Environment /17/92/ has several rather general provisions about access to information and participation of the public and basic principles of environmental impact statement procedure. But these are general proclamations. According to this, everyone has the right to true and accurate information about the state and the development of the environment, the causes and consequences of that state, activities which are being prepared and which could change the environment, as well as to information about measures taken by the authorities responsible for environmental protection in order to prevent or remedy environmental damage. A special regulation may stipulate cases in which such information can be restricted or withheld. Copies of documents are accessible for payment of the material cost of duplication.
According to the Act on Organizational Structure of Ministries, Nr. 453/1992 Zb, it is the state administration that is responsible for making environmental information available to the general public and the Ministry of Living Environment is obliged "to provide information system on living environment and monitoring." Similar provisions are found in the Law on State Administration of Waste Management (494/91, Art. 4-5). These laws include provisions protecting the confidentiality of state and trade secrets.
According to the Law on State Administration in Waste Management (in article 4d and in article 5, par. 3 c), it is the district and subdistrict office of living environment which must provide the information for the waste producers on the municipalities with equipment suitable for waste disposal. The municipality issues, according to article 6, par 1, generally binding decrees for municipal waste disposal and gives comments to the proposed programs of the waste management submitted by producers of waste in the municipality.
Under the Clean Air Act of 1992 (309/91 as amended) and the Act on the State Administration of Air Protection (134/92), the appropriate governmental authorities are required to make accessible full and timely information about air quality and about the specific contributions of individual sources to air pollution. (Article 13, 309/91). In the case of emergency the authorities must give prompt information. However, this law sets the duty for the persons acting as state supervisors for clean air to be silent in the matters of the state, economic and official secret, which they have learned about when acting as supervisors. The other environmental laws also deal with information in the way that it is the ministry or bodies which can request the information, necessary for planning purposes and the state supervisors must be silent on the state, management and official secrets, they have learned about when acting as supervisors.
The Administrative Act includes a provision allowing the local government to give information to persons who show "deep interest" in a matter which is being decided upon which can be used by NGOs and public for gaining information on issues of local importance.
Several laws require reporting requirements. The General Law on the Environment requires persons with licenses for private businesses to submit information about the impact of their activities on the environment, as require by a special decree to be issued in the future. The Decree of the Government of the Slovak Republic of 22 September 1992 on keeping records of wastes (605/92) requires the maintenance of detailed records on waste generation, handling, transportation and disposal by all persons in the chain for various wastes according to classification. Similarly, the decree on waste management programs requires information on the amount of waste produced, method of disposal, waste management budget, policies of the producer, and an annex of administrative decisions affecting the producer's program. The Federal Clean Air Act (309/1991) obliges operators of large and medium air pollution sources to inform the public in an appropriate way in the case of serious and imminent danger or impairment of air quality, and the Water Act imposes reporting requirements on enterprises seeking permits from water management authorities. Unfortunately, the public has no right of access to this information.
Under this act, the public has become one of the parties of the assessment process, which is a new and progressive approach in the Slovak legislation. The legislation does not define the term "public", as there does not exist one "public" as well as there does not exist only one "public opinion." The term "public" is understood in its full sense, depending on particular conditions. The public are physical individuals, juridical persons, groups of citizens, groups of entrepreneurs, interest groups, industrial, commercial, agricultural and other organizations and associations, non-governmental organizations, etc., i.e. all those possibly affected by or interested in the state authority's decision in the given matter.
In addition, certain parts of the public, who meet the criteria determined in this law, are granted the right of being a party of the administrative procedure on assessing and permitting the proposed activity. There are special provisions in this and other laws related to "public initiatives" such as it is mainly the "civic initiatives" and "civic association" which give special rights for public participation in these official proceedings. These can be established by citizens and NGOs at the beginning of the assessment process, during notification of intention proposal.
The civic initiative according, to the law, should include at least 500 physical persons older then 18 years who sign the joint standpoint concerning the proposed activity which will be assessed in the EIA procedure. The civic initiative is averted by the signed document with introduced name, surname, identification number, permanent address and signature of persons who support this joint standpoint. The signed document together with the standpoint is to be delivered to ministry within 6 weeks from the notification of the intention proposal.
If the majority of the persons of the civic initiative (at least 250 physical persons older than 18 years) establishes a civic association in order to support the civic initiative's standpoint, such an association can become one of the parties of the administrative procedure on the permitting of the proposed activity assessed according to this Act, and has the chance to influence the decisionmaking process until the very end according to the Act on Associating Right.(83/1990 Zb./)
The forms of public participation the public and NGOs can use during the EIA process is closely connected with the different phases of the procedure. There is public participation from the very beginning of the process, but in the different phases the degree of participation varies.
In the notification phase it is the municipality which is obliged to inform the public about the intention proposal in an appropriate way within one week from the delivery of the intention proposal delivery and inform the public where and when the intention proposal is available for public access. The intention proposal must be available to the public for at least three weeks from its delivery. The municipality should deliver the written standpoint concerning the intention proposal to the ministry within six weeks, and the public can deliver the written standpoint within the same time either to the ministry or to the municipality. These written standpoints are very important for public participation in the further phases of the assessment procedure, mainly for screening, scooping and for statement. Therefore it is crucial that the citizens and NGOs pay attention to this phase.
In this phase the affected municipality has an opportunity to focus on public involvement and to use all the legal means given by the Act on Municipality. The success of public participation depends also on the municipality, on what kind of technique it chooses for public information and involvement. Even though the draft of the EIA Act does not explicitly demands the public meetings in the phase of notification, the municipality can call such a the meeting or even pass the bill on local referendum to discuss the proposal. These forms are more effective than just written standpoints which are too formal and for some people (old people, less educated people or passive people) are more difficult to use, not favorable. This is also the first opportunity for the proponent to start with public involvement and the point when the public initiates might have already a role.
In the screening phase there is no direct public participation. The only participant is the Ministry of Environment which decides within one month whether or not the activity will be assessed according to this law. This is delivered to all parties in the procedures including the proponent, competent authority, permissive authority, affected authority, affected municipality, civic initiative and civic association by the Ministry. Again, the affected municipality must inform without undue delay the public about the decision, at an appropriate place and in a usual way.
In the scoping phase it is only the ministry which determines the scope of assessment, but it should happen in cooperation with the other subjects of the assessing process and the written standpoints which have been presented in written form delivered according Article 6, par. 5 of this act must be taken into consideration. In some particular cases, the Ministry can even determine also the special approach and techniques for public involvement.
When the environmental impact statement is being prepared, the public, judicial and physical persons are obliged to provide on the request of the proponent all the environmental information available related to the activity financed from state budget if this information is necessary for the elaboration of the impact statement.
The EIA statement is submitted to the Ministry for Living Environment, which has to deliver the impact statement without undue delay to the competent authority, permission authority and to affected municipalities. The affected municipalities must inform the public within one week from the delivery and at the same time make the statement or final summary of the statement available for public display for 30 days at an appropriate place. It is possible for members of the public to look into the statement, take notes or copy it, at their own expense.
The affected municipality should arrange a public hearing on the impact statement in cooperation with the proponent, within the period of display of statement and should inform the public about the date of the hearing. The ministry, competent authority and permission authority are also invited and the proponent along with the experts of the impact statement should explain the impacts and answer all the questions from the side of the public. The affected municipality in cooperation with the proponent should make a record of the public hearing and should will deliver this to the ministry within 14 days from the date of public meeting. In addition, the affected municipality, public, civic initiative and civic association can also deliver their written standpoints on the impact statement directly to the ministry. The ministry should ensure that the comments and the delivered records are considered in the revised impact statement, which should be prepared taking into consideration the delivered records and standpoints within two months from the deadline. Without final records the permission authority (the District Office of the Living Environment) cannot issue a decision on the activity according to individual regulations, but it is not bound by final records. In case of further permitting procedure (land use proceedings and building proceedings) the representatives of civic initiative and civic association established during the EIA process must be invited.
However, the Law on State Administration in the field of waste management (494/91, Section 15) requires county environmental authorities, in matters of public interest, to "make full, timely and publicly accessible information available to the population on all conditions related to the localization and establishment" of waste disposal equipment. The decree of the Slovak Environmental Committee on waste management programs (76/92) requires county and district environmental authorities and producers of waste to develop waste management programs. These programs and their updates are required to be issued also in a "publicly accessible manner." These laws do not specify procedures for accepting comments from the public nor do they require public participation to be a component of the final plan.
The structure is similar for the Clean Air Act, discussed above in the section on access to information law. The district environmental authority (District Office for Living Environment) has the duty to inform the public up to six months from the last year at latest, on quality of air and on the portion of each polluter and it also issues the binding public notifications for air protection on its territory (Art.13). The subdistrict office can decree the limitation or stop of the working of the pollution source and has to inform the public. This Act also sets a duty for the factory management to render the obliged data on the quality of the air and to inform the public on the air pollution and on the measures to mitigate this pollution. The Water Law (138/73), now over 20 years old, has no provisions concerning public involvement, except for requiring reporting of information to environmental authorities. (Art.8-10). Environmental administrative decisionmaking is concentrated in district authorities. These decisions are made on the subdistrict environmental office level and can be appealed first to the district office and then to the Ministry of Living Environment. The public has no direct participation rights in these matters except for the right to information. The local and municipal governments are limited to advisory and consultative capacity.
The Act on Land Use Planning and Building Rules: although it has been revised in recent years, still doesn't include citizens as equal subjects in the land use and building permitting proceeding. /Nr. 50/1976 Zb., revised in Nr. 103/1990 Zb. and Nr. 262/1992 Zb./ A new Building Act is being prepared. The citizens are only represented by the other subjects, namely, the national committees and social organizations. The citizens do not have any direct legislative power. The participants of the permitting proceedings, according to this Act, are physical and legal persons whose right to properties might be directly affected by land use planning decision or building decision. The citizens can be party to the land use proceedings, only in the case when their rights to properties on land or buildings are affected. The land use decision is reached through a proceedings where all the participants are invited. During this proceedings it is possible to submit all the comments. After this proceedings no comments are available. On this basis of the standpoints of other state administration authorities and an assessment of the objections of the other participants, the building authority issues the written land use decision, which is delivered to the participants. It is possible to appeal against this decision to the same authority. The citizens can only be parties to the building proceedings, only if they are either builders or their rights to land properties can be affected by the building permit. In some instances, a broader public notice may occur. It is the building authority's responsibility to investigate whether the process of building and land use does not threaten the society from the point of view of the living environment protection and public health. There are strict penalties against those citizens who offend this law and damage the environment when building their houses.
However, the local land-use plans are required to be developed with a specific public consultation procedures. Notice of the public participation process must be given according to the usual means of notification in the locality, such as through mass media. The draft plan itself must be available for public inspection for 30 days. The public has an opportunity to comment upon the plans. The persons whose rights to real property are not affected by the plan are taken as indications of public opinion; no specific response is required to these comments. Persons whose rights to real property are affected by the plan, have the right to receive written answers to their objections from the planning authority which is obliged to indicate how the authority has made adjustments to the plan to reconcile the objections, or the reasons for which the objections caused a change in the plan.
The Nature Conservation Law includes also some provisions on access to information and public participation during the process of nature and landscape protection according to which citizens or any organized groups can be a party of administrative procedure.
There is no law on the use of energy in Slovak legislation and therefore no specific public participation provisions are available.
Under the administrative law, a citizen may make a complaint to a higher administrative authority in the case where lower level authority fails to act. The law requires authorities to respond to submissions, complaints and grievances within one month. Decisions of administrative authorities outside their competencies (this may include the failure to act under a duty, for example, the failure to register an association) may be appealed to the Supreme Court. Penal provisions may also be applicable if a failure of an official to act results in serious harm to the environment.
Appeals to administrative courts may be taken under current law only when procedural rights have been violated. Action must be initiated within two months of a final administrative decision/Civil Law Procedure Code/. An appeal may also be taken by the Prosecutor.
Article 46 of the Constitution guarantees judicial review of administrative decisions. Persons damaged by unlawful decisions of bodies of state administration, or by incorrect official procedure, are entitled to compensation under Article 46.
The Government Note on Complaints, Notifications and Causes of the Working People /Nr. 150/1958 Zb./ is also still valid and not revised which involves the participation of people on administration. This note is out of date and there is a new one being prepared which will determine the authorities to deal with complaints and causes. The highest authority will be the Supreme Control Authority which will be an independent body.
The Civil Code establishes a cause of action based on nuisance in Article 127. Among the grounds for a claim of nuisance are interference with the rights of others through noise, dust, fly-ash, smoke, gases, steam, odors, liquid and solid wastes, light, blocking of light, and vibrations. The Civil Law Procedure Code establishes that all persons have the right of vindication of their legal rights in a court law. The rights of access to the courts includes a fundamental right of one instance of appeal. Additional rights of appeal may be available under law. Rights of appeal are limited in certain cases.
The Criminal Code deals with two delinquent substances concerning living environment and nature protection which are under the particular heading "Criminal Acts Generally Dangerous".(Nr.140/1961 Zb., revised in Nr. 456/1990 Zb.)
The Commercial Code has a provision which limits the entrepreneurial activities threatening the health and the environment of citizens as consumers and which can be caused by unfair competition. (Nr. 513/1991 Zb. Art. 52) The regress of unfair acting is in accordance with the Bill of Basic Rights and Freedoms, Article 31, according to which everyone has the right for health protection and article 36, according to which everyone has the right for favorable living environment and nobody can, by performing of his activity, damage the living environment or natural sources. Article 420, par. 1 declares that everyone is responsible for the damage caused by violating the legal duty and article 420a/1 states that everyone is responsible for the damage caused by business activity.
Some of the former acts are still valid and have not been revised (71/1967), some have been changed partially (Building Code, Civil Code), some are new (Municipal Act, Act on Environment, Commercial Code) and some are being prepared. It is not necessary to change everything, but it is inevitable to harmonize the laws and their terminology with reality, to harmonize the new and the old laws and to introduce new laws which broaden the legal system including proper public participation provisions.
The existing regulations, though not fully complete, provide ample possibilities for public participation, especially the new EIA procedure but in practice the public does not know these possibilities or does not use them. The experience is that the citizens are more concerned with economic and social problems than with environmental protection and they are not interested in participating in the procedures even if it directly affects them. There are only a few active NGOs who try to represent the public and make an impact on the decisionmaking process. On the other hand, also the authorities do not act always according to the adopted regulations. There are attempts to avoid procedures, interpret adopted regulations in a different way.
Some NGOs are also involved in drafting and commenting legislation mainly through non-formal ways though. There is at least one group which assists citizens and citizens groups in legal matters with advice on cases of environmental protection (forest, air, water, waste, land exploitation), in the field of citizen rights (association, assembling, access to information, petitions, etc.), in starting and operating organizations (registration, statutes, etc.) and in the relations with state administration, self-governments, courts including the EIA process.
The most frequently used legal forms of public participation in Slovakia are the provisions of administrative law and administrative procedure and the constitutional rights such as right to free assembly, right to free expression, right to petition mainly through concrete actions (petitions, demonstrations, meetings, etc.). The EIA procedure is relatively new therefore there is not much experience with using it yet.
The most important missing legal instruments for public participation is a law on access to information. Also missing are laws on nuclear energy and on ozone layer protection. There are several laws which need to be amended, among them is the Water Act. Also the public participation provisions need to be strengthened in several laws. Among the constitutional rights, the right of initiative is not granted. The Ombudsman institution is also missing.
The strong public participation provisions in the EIA procedure, especially in the notification and the scoping phase is also unique in the region.
There are mostly administrative court cases in Slovakia regarding attempts to avoid the EIA process or procedure. There have been more failures so far than positive examples.
In certain cases, municipalities and citizens establish local NGOs and citizen groups as was the case of Gabc’kovo dam and Dam Tichy potok. There are also regional and local NGOs but they are mostly created ad hoc for a certain environmental problem and when the problem is over they finish their activity or are incorporated into another NGO.
Especially those are active in public participation which are involved in concrete environmental issues on national, regional or local level. In most of the groups people work based on a free time interest. In Slovakia there is only 3-4 NGOs where activists and experts work on full time basis.
The relationship of NGOs and citizens and the decisionmaking institutions has been insufficiently institutionalized. No proper channels for dialogue exist. However, the relationship with many officials of the ministry are very good on the level of personal contacts. Also many environmental NGOs are still depending on the financial assistance provided by the government. The funding provided for NGOs has been reduced recently.
However, there are public meetings organized by the parliament on an ad hoc basis on some environmental policy issues, such as drafts of environmental legislation where representatives of some NGOs are sometimes invited. For example, the experts of the Public Advocacy Center and Greenpeace were invited to participate in the discussion of the draft EIA Act and they provided comments also on the draft law on the protection of ozone layer. Also, the regular meetings of the Environmental Committee of the Slovak Parliament are open and NGOs may participate in the session, discussion. Usually two or three NGO experts use this possibility. Besides this, they can use different lobbying methods to approach and influence Members of Parliament.
The situation is the same with the government. There are no regular forms of discussion or dialogue. The NGOs and the Slovak Ministry for the Environment had a regular forum for discussion two or three years ago right after the 1989 Velvet Revolution but the situation has changed for now. There are officials in the ministry who pay more attention to the involvement of NGOs in policy making and law drafting, provide information proactively and invite NGOs to different meetings, and discussions, for example at the legal department, but these initiatives are rather exceptional or personal.
At the local level, there is better communication between the self-government representatives and NGOs, and citizens. Citizens and NGOs have the chance to influence them more directly and can also be part of different committees, local councils, can lobby for local initiatives. In many conflict cases, citizens and the municipality have the same opinion and cooperate for the solution. They can create local civic initiatives and civic associations to solve some problems and, also, they can initiate a local referendum. This mechanism can be effectively used in combination with legal tools during the EIA process.
In general, most of the Slovak NGOs are quite aware of what kind of political channels exist, but they also have to realize that it is very difficult to use any of them under the present situation.
Relations with business is not particularly extensive. The domestic business sector is generally showing not much interest in having public participation beyond legal requirements. The foreign companies are more receptive towards this issues, especially EBRD has tried recently to involve the public based on their guidelines.
Green consumerism is not really developed. There is though some governmental support for using of a green mark for environmental friendly products but this is not very widespread practice. In Slovakia there are not any strong organizations of consumers yet. There are NGOs, however, which strongly advocate green values and the concept of a sustainable way of living, the environmentally conscious approach, and who are also involved in public awareness raising.
The range of tools include the very simple ones as well as some of the most sophisticated ones such as networking, electronic mail, circulating policy documents, drafting legislation, lobbying, advising, servicing other NGOs and citizens.
While the different forms of networking are used regularly by many NGOs, these latter are used only by a few. Some strong NGOs who have good expertise themselves, cooperate with experts and are able to build up relatively professional institutional background. These also try to combine the possibility to comment draft legislation and lobbying, however the lobbying is not yet very developed in this sphere. At the same time, there have been examples of preparing alternative draft laws or even alternative environmental policy concept. For example, an alternative water policy was elaborated and suggested by the NGO, Water and the Environment, which has been submitted to the Ministry of Environment and will have to be discussed together with the official proposal prepared by the authorities.
Non-formal tools are often used by NGOs or citizen groups during the EIA process especially to complete the deficiencies or lack of the procedure. Some NGOs are able to combine the legal and non-formal tools but most of them are more familiar with the non-formal methods. In Slovakia EIA activities are usually more efficient on local level than in central level but there have been instances is the past few years when it has been necessary to mobilize not only the local, domestic public opinion, but also the international one because EIA procedure has not been conducted on very significant environmental investments such as the Gabc’kovo dam or the Mohovce nuclear power plant. The Slovak government or parliament usually does not initiate forums or public hearings on such major environmental policy issues or investments. They only do it that if there is a strict legal requirement, if public opinion is very strong, or if it is a foreign developer who wants to have an EIA or EIA-like procedure together with public participation. This was the case with the new nuclear power plant Mochovce. Because it has not been considered a new investment no EIA procedure was done, at the request of the EBRD which was to fund the project. An EIA-like procedure and audit was conducted according to the guidelines of the bank. The Slovak NGOs were using a combination of several different non-formal tools starting from demonstrations until participation in the EBRD procedure, building action coalition with foreign NGOs, lobbying, etc.
Consultations in decisionmaking are also used relatively often even in a non-formal way. The governmental authorities organize sometimes such consultations with some NGOs when developing new environmental legislation, or when designing a new protected area, or when taking a significant environmental policy measure. However, these are not happening systematically but more on ad hoc basis. Also NGOs try to reach such possibilities. At the same time, NGO comments have a very weak influence on the government's decision. Public hearings as mentioned earlier, is not used very frequently on non-formal basis.
The technique of joint decisionmaking has been used very rarely so far in Slovakia. The only example reported has been a recent attempt at a joint decisionmaking on water policy. Two alternatives were elaborated. One was elaborated by the government and the other one by an NGO, called "Ludia a voda". A meeting was already organized at the Slovak Ministry for the Environment on both suggestions but the decision has not been made yet.
The technique of transfer of power to decide is also very seldom used. The power to decide is absolutely on the side of government except for referendum which might be initiated by the local community concerning local environmental issues. In this case, citizens make a decision. There was at least one such case reported. For example, concerning Tichy potok, three villages in Eastern Slovakia opposing the planned dam initiated referendum which resulted in a decision against the building of the dam. Unfortunately, the Ministry of the Environment did not take into consideration the position of the local community.
There might be found several cases when the governmental decisions have been reviewed and challenged by non-formal tools in Slovakia, both by citizens and NGOs, for example in the case of the Gabc’kovo dam, Mohovce.
So far these attempts were not successful, they could not lead to changing the decision. The same situation is in the case of participatory reviewing of government decisions and in the case of challenging the decisions of parliament. NGOs in these cases frequently use instruments like collecting signatures, writing petitions and letters, organizing demonstrations and protest action, happenings and public meetings.
Promotion of public participation activities through capacity building is mostly initiated by NGOs and sponsored by foreign and domestic foundations, and international assistance programs. These efforts include establishing an advocacy center, assistance and training public interest groups, civic initiatives and civic associations and local governments, dissemination of the experience in the form of different publications, and newsletters.
The main sources of funding for public participation activities comes first of all from international foundations like Partnership for CEE, REC, IUCN, UNEP, Open Society Fund, etc. and they fund a large variety of NGO projects. The Ministry of Environment also gives funding to NGO projects in a rather limited way. Sometimes also local governments assist NGOs, very often with in-kind contribution. The Slovak Parliament does not give any financial assistance to environmental NGOs.
A more successful campaign was organized against Ziar nad Hronom aluminum factory which was supported by Milieukontakt Osteuropa. The aim was to provide people true information about inefficiency of the aluminum production, its impact on the environment and on human health. As a result of successful pressure from NGO side, the government was forced to invest money in a good technology.
Several other campaigns were organized which can be considered good examples of using non-formal tools. One was focused on the ozone hole and climate change which was a national campaign of NGOs from Slovakia (SZOPK, COE, Tree of Life, etc) and is an example of good NGO cooperation. The Campaign Tatra has been conducted against Winter Olympic Games planned in 2002 on the territory of the Tatra National Parks. SZOPK organized an international conference about this problem. It was a well publicized protest to make an influence on public opinion towards the Olympic Games in National Park. It seems that this action had better results at international level than at national one.
The campaign against Water Dam Tichy potok is a good example of cooperation between an NGO, local citizens and the municipality. "Ludia a voda" NGO established close contacts with local people, organized together a local referendum against the construction of a dam. They developed an alternative plan for water supply for that region and cooperated closely with government representatives as well.
In the non-formal field, the biggest achievement is that the NGO community has started to build up their capacity, develop networks for cooperation. More and more NGOs are using these networks in a very efficient way. The national level NGO activities show a more organized and coordinated approach to public participation issues. There are many efforts of close cooperation between NGOs, local communities, municipalities and on issues of local importance, which involve real public participation on a grassroots level. These initiatives can change the public's mentality and can build up more confidence in the participatory forms of local democracy.
Several legal instruments are still missing and many legal provisions cannot be used in practice due to the lack of concrete procedures. In this respect the law ensuring access to information and special procedures are critical to success.
Slovak environmental NGOs are not aware of environmental legislation and they do not know exactly what are their rights and possibilities. Furthermore, they are not always well organized. Sometimes there is a lack of cooperation, and even competition, among NGOs. NGOs face many problems with fundraising, legal assistance and expertise. There is only one NGO working in this field. Activists are not always well experienced or educated.
On the other hand, the public is not very interested in environmental problems as it was before 1989. This situation results from the transition process of centrally oriented economy to market economy when people have problems with jobs and living standards.
Citizens as individuals are not really very active in environmental decisionmaking. Generally there is a lack of interest in public matters and quite a deal of apathy in getting involved in their community life, partly flowing from the communist period, partly as a certain lack of sense of direction and/or unfamiliarity with the new democratic ways of public participation. At the same time people verbally declare their readiness to get involved in the solution of problems of their community.
The present situation can be improved by a more transparent legal process for public participation, clear legislative regulation and regulatory measures. Better legal conditions for civic associations and initiatives to be able to be a party of administrative procedure without limitations, would be helpful.
In order to change the present situation of tense relationships with the NGOs, the Government needs to establish different forms of regular contacts and dialogue with the NGOs and the citizens to discuss environmental problems and to allow participation in environmental decisionmaking process. The commitment of the central and local governmental authorities needs to be strengthened in the capacity building activities for public participation including funding for training and for concrete public participation activities for NGOs.
Within the existing legal framework, especially in the EIA procedure there is a place for cooperation between NGOs and local government, and NGOs and the national government, in order to develop and implement a good public participation plan. These possibilities need to be utilized more by all partners in the process.
Parliament needs to contribute to the change in direction by being more active in the drafting of environmental legislation and advocating more public participation in principle and in practice. A stronger connection is needed between parliamentary committees, MPs and citizens, NGOs in the form of regular meetings, and public hearings.
NGOs need to be more skilled in using legal and non-formal tools and aware of their rights and possibilities. They have to increase their efficiency by sharing more their resources and expertise, disseminating the experiences, and positive examples, creating precedents and learning from them. The public participation efforts should be broadened to areas of environmental policy measures, screening them through EIA procedure, monitoring of their implementation and reviewing them from time to time. In non-legal field NGOs should focus on improving the communication and cooperation among NGOs, development of negotiation skills, and closer communication with citizens.
When using the non-formal methods they need to make a positive influence on the environmental awareness of citizens.
Citizens on the other hand, need to be more active in public participation, more informed about the possibilities, with necessary information and assistance about their rights and possibilities.
Local governments needs to concentrate on public participation forms, creation of certain intermediate levels which brings the public and NGOs closer to the local institutions, recognizing the needs of the community and the preferences of the citizens. Local administration has the capability of setting up various interest groups, professional associations, or fostering activities of different groups of population who can act as mediators between local government institutions and the citizens. Specific developments in territorial and administrative organizations emptied most communities of leading personalities who take initiative in its cultural, entrepreneurial, social, environmental problems and strengthen the cohesion of local community.
Businesses needs to realize the advantages of public participation through better-based planning decisions and avoidance of further costs from challenges to their activities. They need to be aware of their responsibilities to the environment and develop and use environmentally friendly production technologies.
Media should promote public participation by giving more attention to green programs, providing accurate information and independent assessment of environmental issues thereby enabling more access of NGO, civic associations and initiatives to the media channels.