Press release: 2008-02-14 09:10
Deputies pass the environmental damage act
On Wednesday 13 February 2008, the Parliamentary Chamber of Deputies passed a law on the prevention of environmental damage and its remedying. This is a significant piece of environmental protection legislation. It introduces into the Czech legal system the requirements of a European Directive [1] which puts the prevention principle and “polluter pays” principle into practice.
The law applies to operators of selected activities which are considered as highly risky for the environment and human health - these are, for example, landfills, waste incinerators, large industrial enterprises or transboundary waste shipment. According to the law, operators of these activities will be obliged to perform preventative measures against the threat of environmental damage to animal and plant species, to water and soil. If the damage occurs, the operator will have a duty to perform remedial measures, that is, primarily to restore the damaged environment to its original condition.
From the aspect of the liability of operators, this act is based on the principle of objective liability – prior culpable behaviour by the operator is not a condition for the performance of remedial measures. Nevertheless, in the event that the operator causes environmental damage despite the fact that it had not breached any law, it may retrospectively be paid the costs expended on remedial measures.
A tool for ensuring the preventative and remedial measures should be financial securing to cover costs – for example in the form of insurance. The act regulates the conditions of financial securing, but it defers the effectiveness of these provisions by five years (until 2013) so that Czech enterprise would have time to prepare for this duty. In this way the Czech legal regulation does not follow certain other Member States, which are now introducing mandatory insurance.
Despite the fact that these rules will not apply to damages caused before the act comes into force, its adoption is a significant shift in ensuring that damages caused to the environment can be remedied more effectively than today. In addition, the reasons for the adoption of the European Directive itself were several serious ecological accidents and the great number of contaminated places representing a significant threat to the environment and human health.
The approval of the act in the Lower Chamber of the Czech Parliament comes at the last moment, because the EU Member States were meant to have incorporated the Directive into their legislation last April. Last month the European Commission officially announced to the Czech Republic (and also to some other Member States) that it would no longer tolerate further delays in this matter. And so if the law was not passed, there was a realistic danger of the submission of an action at the European Court of Justice and possible significant financial sanctions for the Czech Republic.
Jakub Kašpar, Spokesperson of the MoE
Notes:
[1] This is directive No. 2004/35/EC.
The page was accessed 354 times.