Environmental legislation

Fifteen existing environmental laws were modernised and amalgamated to form the Environmental Code in 1999. The Code contains several general "rules of consideration", i.e. factors serving as a basis for decisions by regulatory and licensing authorities. These rules include the precautionary principle; the "polluter pays" principle and the product choice principle. The product choice principle imposes an obligation to choose a less harmful substance if such an alternative is available.

The Code provides that commercial and industrial operations must use the best available technique, and that operations must be located so as to cause minimum harm to human health and the environment. It also establishes that the party causing the damage is liable for site remediation.

Many activities fall within the scope of both the Environmental Code and other legislation. Examples include road and railway construction, mining and forestry.

The instruments under the Code include new powers to set environmental quality standards governing the minimum acceptable quality of air, water, soil and the environment in general. Environmental sanction charges have been introduced as a more rapid way of dealing with infringements. These are levied directly by the authorities responsible for inspections and enforcement.

The Environmental Code consists of 33 chapters containing almost 500 sections. In addition, detailed regulations are issued in the form of government ordinances. The Code has been reviewed and changes have been proposed, for example to improve efficiency in the licensing system.

The role of the Environmental Courts is to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Environmental Code by operators and to order measures to be taken in line with the requirements of the Code. Five regional environmental courts deal with matters including permits for "water undertakings", environmentally hazardous operations and damages and compensation claims relating to the environment.