{"id":11770,"date":"2021-10-30T11:03:14","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T11:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/government-of-republic-of-serbia-once-again-proposed-delay-in-application-of-the-law-on-the-integrated-prevention-and-pollution-control\/"},"modified":"2023-05-20T10:01:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-20T10:01:46","slug":"government-of-republic-of-serbia-once-again-proposed-delay-in-application-of-the-law-on-the-integrated-prevention-and-pollution-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/government-of-republic-of-serbia-once-again-proposed-delay-in-application-of-the-law-on-the-integrated-prevention-and-pollution-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Government of the Republic of Serbia once again proposed delay in application of the Law on the Integrated Prevention and Pollution Control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo: pixabay.com <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The proposed amendments to the Law on Integrated Prevention and Pollution Control (IPPC Law), which was submitted to the National Assembly without any public debate, demonstrate that the Republic of Serbia and the competent Ministry of Environmental Protection do not have the capacity to implement\u00a0regulations.\u00a0The Government proposed to postpone the\u00a0deadline for issuing integrated\u00a0permits (IPPC permits) to large\u00a0polluters, this time until\u00a0the end of 2024. Postponing the deadline for issuing IPPC permits is a clear signal to polluters that the laws do not apply to them and that the state will always be there to support them in lawlessness because it itself\u00a0 does not care for the laws and is not able to implement them.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft Law on Amendments to the IPPC Law was adopted at the 86th<\/sup>\u00a0session of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, held on October 21, and submitted to the National Assembly on 22 October 2021. The draft law contains only three articles,\u00a0and Article 2 proposes to postpone\u00a0the deadline for issuing\u00a0IPPC\u00a0permits for existing plants until 31 December 2024<\/strong>.\u00a0Currently applicable law prescribe that the deadline for\u00a0obtaining the IPPC permits\u00a0expired on 31 December 2020.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are IPPC permits important?<\/strong>\u00a0These permits provide for comprehensive protection of air, water and soil from pollution, prevention of pollution and the application of the best and most environmentally friendly technical solutions. These permits ensure that even large\u00a0polluters operate in accordance with high standards of environmental protection and do not cause harm to human health and the environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the preparation and processing of an integrated permit application a demanding procedure?<\/strong>\u00a0Of course it is. It requires serious preparation, hiring experts and obtaining numerous conditions and approvals. Therefore, only large polluters and\u00a0companies have this obligation. By the nature of their work\u00a0they\u00a0should have the capacity to prepare an application for the issuance of an integrated\u00a0permit.\u00a0Those are the\u00a0obligations\u00a0deriving from the\u00a0law, of which the competent authorities and companies have been aware for 18 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it necessary for the state to\u00a0provide sufficient administrative and professional capacity to process applications for IPPC permits?<\/strong>\u00a0Of course it is. But from 2004 until today, in the department within the Ministry of Environmental Protection,\u00a0in charge of issuing IPPC permits, unacceptably few employees have been hired \u2013 according to the systematization of job positions within the Ministry, only four people have been engaged for issuing integrated permits. It is similar within\u00a0the Provincial Secretariat for Urbanism and Environmental Protection, while in many local governments there are no employees who\u00a0could\u00a0issue IPPC permits.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim of these amendments, as stated in the explanation, is to extend the deadline for the competent authorities to resolve the submitted applications for the issuance of an IPPC permit. The amendments, as it is stated, will provide conditions for more efficient functioning and organization of issuing IPPC permits on the territory of the Republic of Serbia.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How? By\u00a0postponing the deadline for\u00a03 years? Let\u2019s use a simple calculation.\u00a0If 46 out of 227 permits were issued in 18 years, how will 181 permits be issued in three years?<\/strong>\u00a0Even in countries with better administrative capacity, an average of 3 to 4 permits are issued per year. Let\u2019s not introduce\u00a0into the math new plants that will be constructed in the next three\u00a0years. The government does not find it necessary to explain to the citizens why the system has not worked so far, nor does it see its responsibility in the devastating results in this area.\u00a0And it shall be pointed that the competent institutions are deserving for the fact that a year after the expiration of the legal deadline, most large polluters do not have an IPPC permit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real\u00a0question is what has the Government done\u00a0so\u00a0far\u00a0to eliminate the problems it\u00a0quotes\u00a0today as reasons for postponing\u00a0the deadlines again? What will the proposer of the law do in the coming years in order to avoid delaying these obligations again? The proposer of the law does not give an answer to this question, but explains that the\u00a0strengthening\u00a0of human capacities and education of staff is currently not in the work plan of the Government.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The previous amendments to the IPPC Law,\u00a0<\/strong>i.e.<\/em>\u00a0postponing\u00a0of the deadline, was argued by the Government in an almost identical\u00a0manner\u00a0as now: insufficient time for operators to submit complete documentation, insufficient capacity of competent authorities to verify\u00a0that documentation and issue\u00a0IPPC\u00a0permits, which would economically\u00a0harm\u00a0the operator. Additionally, this time the Government\u00a0emphasized that a major\u00a0problem is the lack of necessary documentation that is submitted with the application for the issuance of\u00a0IPPC\u00a0permit\u00a0(usage\u00a0permit, project documentation, water permits and conditions of other competent authorities). How is it possible that the Government of a state, which pretends to be a state governed by the rule of law, lists elementary obligations of operators, such as setting a water permit or\u00a0other\u00a0conditions\u00a0of the relevant authorities\u00a0among the obstacles to\u00a0apply the\u00a0law?\u00a0Why doesn\u2019t the Government eliminate those unnecessary bureaucratic nonsense by simply changing these laws as well?!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on\u00a0the\u00a0IPPC\u00a0Law, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has prepared a preliminary list of facilities subject to the issuance of an\u00a0IPPC\u00a0permit, which includes a total of 227 facilities.\u00a0Up to date, as stated in the analysis of the effect of the law, only 46 have been issued, which means that\u00a0at\u00a0this moment a total of 181 facilities\u00a0are carrying out activities without the necessary work permits.<\/strong>\u00a0Accordingly, some of the largest polluters in the Republic of Serbia do not have these permits: not one the\u00a0thermal power plant\u00a0operated by Public Company\u00a0\u201cElektroprivreda\u00a0Srbije\u201d, not one facility\u00a0within the mining complex in Bor operated\u00a0by\u00a0Zijin\u00a0Bor Copper doo, as well as\u00a0not one facility\u00a0within the\u00a0iron\u00a0factory complex\u00a0operated\u00a0by HBIS Group Serbia.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Law on Environmental Protection stipulates that the inspector has the right and duty to determine whether the conditions for the operation of the facility and the performance of activities are met. Also, the inspector has at his disposal a wide range of powers that would eliminate illegalities and oblige operators to undertake obligations in accordance with the law. The IPPC Law stipulates that starting the plant and performing activities without an IPPC permit is a commercial offense for which the operator should be fined in the amount of RSD 150.000 to 3.000.000, and the responsible person within the operator fined a fine in the amount between RSD 30.000 to 200.000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the explicit legal obligation,\u00a0the competent inspection authorities\u00a0did not implement this law. In order to point out the shortcomings in the work to the\u00a0competent authorities, RERI, so far, submitted five\u00a0requests for\u00a0initiation of\u00a0extraordinary inspection\u00a0surveillance, as\u00a0well as two reports for commercial offences\u00a0against responsible polluters.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of a day a question arise: Why do we even have procedures for licensing, if authorities continue\u00a0to delay deadlines in favor of large\u00a0polluters. Are their interests\u00a0above public\u00a0interest, and if they are, why do they make our legal and constitutional order meaningless by passing laws and amendments to those laws that they know will not be applied?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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