Legal Acts in English

This Law shall regulate the impact assessment procedure for projects that can have a significant impact on the environment, the contents of the environmental impact assessment study, participation of interested bodies and organizations and the public, cross-border notification for projects that can have a significant impact on the environment of another state, supervision, and other issues significant for the environmental impact assessment.

The provisions of this Law shall not apply to projects intended for national defence.

Certain terms used in this Law shall have the following meaning:

1)   Public shall encompass one or several natural or legal persons, their associations, organizations or groups;

2)   Competent body shall be a body responsible for implementing the impact assessment procedure within the remit established by this Law, namely:

-     The ministry competent for environmental protection affairs (hereinafter: Ministry) - for projects where consent for the construction of the project is issued by a national body;

-     Body of the autonomous province administration competent for environmental protection affairs - for projects where consent for implementation is issued by an autonomous province body;

-     Body of the local self-government unit competent for environmental protection affairs - for projects where consent for implementation is issued by a local self-government body;

3)   Project leader shall be the party submitting the request to acquire a permit or approval for the construction or reconstruction of a facility or other interventions in nature and the natural environment, and/or the person planning to undertake or undertaking an activity within a field subject to an environmental impact assessment;

4)   Project shall be:

-     Implementation of construction works, installation of installations, plants and equipment, their reconstruction, removal, and/or change of technology, work process technology, feedstock, raw materials, energy sources and waste;

-     Other interventions in nature and the natural environment, including works encompassing the exploitation of mineral resources;

5)   Environmental Impact Assessment shall be a preventive measure of environmental protection based on drafting studies and implementing consultations with public participation and analyses of alternative measures, aiming to collect data and anticipate the harmful effects of certain projects on the lives and health of people, flora and fauna, soil, water, air, climate and landscape, material and cultural assets, and the interactions of such factors, as well as to identify and propose measures to prevent, mitigate or eliminate harmful effects, having in mind the feasibility of such projects (hereinafter: Impact Assessment);

6)   Environmental Impact Assessment Study shall be a document analysing and assessing the quality of environmental factors and their sensitivity within a given area and the mutual impact of existing and planned activities, anticipating direct and indirect harmful effects of the project on environmental factors, as well as envisaging measures and conditions for preventing, mitigating and eliminating harmful effects on the environment and human health (hereinafter: Impact Assessment Study);

7)   Interested public shall encompass the public the project has an effect on, or is likely to have an effect on, including non-governmental organizations engaged in environmental protection and registered with the competent body;

8) Interested bodies and organizations shall be bodies and organizations of the Republic, and/or autonomous province and local self-government, and companies, authorized for establishing the conditions and issuing permits, consent and approval for the construction of facilities, planning and regulation of space, monitoring the status of the environment, performing activities, and the protection and use of assets goods and assets produced by labour.

The subject of the Impact Assessment shall be projects being planned and implemented, changes of technology, reconstructions, capacity expansions, termination of work and the elimination of projects that may have a significant impact on the environment.

The subject of the Impact Assessment shall also be projects implemented without drafting an Impact Assessment Study, without having an approval for construction or being used without a use permit (hereinafter: Impact Assessment of the As-Built State).

Impact Assessments shall be undertaken for projects in the field of industry, mining, energy, transport, tourism, agriculture, forestry, water management, waste management and utility activities, as well as projects planned on protected natural assets and within the protected vicinity of an immovable cultural asset.

Projects referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Article may be subject to an Impact Assessment if their implementation, and/or use is in accordance with the regulations on planning and construction.