Environmental Risks

Specific environmental risks are safeguarded under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Risk Department (ERD). They include environmental risks posed by chemical substances, related serious industrial accidents, and handling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The ERD draws national damage prevention policies for these areas, develops systems for evaluating these risks, proposes indicators for their monitoring, and executes specialised state administration derived from relevant legislation.

At the same time, the EDR guarantees activities resulting from the country’s membership in international organisations (UNEP, OECD – Chemicals Programme and Working Groups on Industrial Accident Prevention, Biotechnologies, and Nanomaterials) and from ratified international treaties (Rotterdam Treaty, Helsinki Convention on Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants) in its jurisdiction.

Contaminated sites management in the Czech Republic is mainly covered by the Ministry of the Environment and other relevant ministerial bodies. Number of contaminated sites is remediated and the risk to the human health and to the environment is reduced every year. The Environmental Damage Department is the competent authority in this field.