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Present State of Harmonisation and Implementation of Legislation in the Field of Industrial Pollution Control in the Conditions of the Slovak Republic. Vladimír Benko, benko@sazp.sk. Slovak Environmental Agency. Slovak Republic and the European Union.
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Present State of Harmonisation and Implementation of Legislation in the Field of Industrial Pollution Control in the Conditions of the Slovak Republic Vladimír Benko, benko@sazp.sk Slovak Environmental Agency
Slovak Republic and the European Union • access to the European Union - the strategic objective • - the most important priority in economic • and political sphere • EU Helsinki Summit in December 1999: • the six non-negotiating countries, including the Slovak • Republic, were invited to open negotiations
Negotiations of the EU with the Slovak Republic current state • negotiations were officially opened during the Portuguese presidency in December in Brussels • in the year 2000 the EU opened the negotiation with the Slovak Republic in 16 chapters, 10 of them were provisionally closed • the Slovak Republic gained thus, together with Malta, the leading position in the second group of countries
The chapter Environment • one of the most difficult chapters (the EC and also individual candidate countries consideration) • high investments and technical improvements are needed for the implementation of the EU legislation • countries apply for transition periods • Slovak Republic submitted officially its negotiated position in the field of environment in December 2000 • Slovak Republic identified originally 14 transition periods in the field of environment, this number was changed into 10
Industrial pollution control and Risk management • EC Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC): - in the present legal system of the Slovak Republic the integrated approach in environmental protection is not applied - project “Capacity Development for the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Reduction” - transposition of the IPPC Directive - new law adoption or amendments of several existing laws
Principles have been proposed for the IPPC permit procedure: • the process of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) according to the Law No. 127/1994 Coll. on environmental impact assessment in the wording of the Law No. 391/2000 will be separated from the IPPC permit procedure • building permission must be rendered before submitting the application for IPPC permit. After the transposition of the IPPC Directive the building procedure will not be affected and can be carried out according to the valid legal regulations.
the application for the IPPC permit shall be submitted to the newly established state administration body (IPPC Office) operating on the whole territory of the Slovak Republic belonging to the sector of the MoE of the SR. The Office will provide for the whole integrated procedure from the preliminary discussion of the application, making it public, justification of the application up to the final permit • it will be possible to use and operate the installation only on the basis of two independent decisions – approval for the utilisation of the installation and the permit of the IPPC Office to operate the installation
Next steps • Project “Assistance to the Slovak Republic in the development of the Integrated EU Approximation Strategy in the Environment”: - financial, staff and institutional requirements will be specified - time schedule of the IPPC Directive transposition and implementation will be specified
SR requests a transition period for: • the Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control • the Council Directive 94/67/EC on the incineration of hazardous waste • the Council Directive 88/609/EEC on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants • the Council Directive 1999/13/EC on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain activities and installations
Implementation of “SEVESO directives” • the Draft Act on the prevention of major industrial accidents and relevant implementing regulations have been developed - will take effect since 1 January 2002: - the full implementation of the Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances will be ensured - SR will be prepared to accede to the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents
Implementation of the revised Council Regulation 880/92/EEC on a Community eco-label award scheme • the Draft Act on the environmental labelling have been developing: - will come into force in the second half of 2002
Conclusion - not fully harmonised current state of environmental acquis implementation in the field of Industrial pollution control and risk management - majority of obligations will be adopted before the reference date of accession - there are still spheres for which transition periods are needed - from the total number of 9 applications of the Slovak Republic for transition periods, as many as 4 are from the field of industrial pollution control