Statute of the Slovak Environmental Agency

1 Unofficial translation from Slovak to English. STATUTE of the Slovak Environmental Agency from 1 January 2003 No. 23/2003-min. Article 1 Initial Provisions /1/ The Slovak Environmental Agency (hereinafter SEA) has been established by the decision of the Minister of the Environment of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter Minister) from 17 May 1993, No. 8/1993, issued pursuant to § 28 of the Law No. 567/1992 Coll. on Budgetary Rules of the Slovak Republic, as amended, and § 2 letter g) of the Law No. 595/1990 Coll. On the State Environmental Administration. By the decision of the Minister from 19 December 2000 No. 2118/2000-min. the full wording of the founder′s deed of SEA was issued because of the change of the form of the SEA´s financial management. /2/ SEA is a semi-budgetary organisation established by the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter MoE SR). /3/ SEA′s headquarters is in Banská Bystrica. Article 2 SEA′s Activity /1/ SEA is the scientific organisation operating on the territory of the whole Slovakia, the activity of which is focused on the environmental protection, environmental policy development and landscape creation on the principles of sustainable development. SEA′s operation is divided into following spheres of activity: a) general and cross-sectional activities in all professional fields, b) state of the environment evaluation and environmental regional classification c) environmental planning and environmental optimisation d) environmental impact assessment e) optimisation of spatial arrangement and functional use of urban and rural landscape, its creation and protection f) landscape-ecological planning g) cultural landscape and natural heritage protection h) environmental risks and environmental safety i)waste management and packaging j) integrated prevention and pollution control k) environmental labelling of products l) system of the environmentally oriented management and audit m) economy of the environment n) environmental monitoring and informatics o) environmental history, documentation and scientific-technical information p) environmental education and promotion q) environmental projects programming and implementation /2/ In the above-mentioned spheres SEA a) prepares for MoE SR professional bases for strategies, concepts, programmes and legal regulations b) carries out co-ordination activity c) prepares and organises various events, d) develops plans and evaluates their fulfilment, e) programs, implements and evaluates environmental projects, f) works out or orders standpoints, expert opinions, information and documents, 2 g) provides professional supervision over the enforcement of environmental legal regulations h) takes care of selected protected landscape areas and environmental installations, i) provides for the fulfilment of obligations ensuing for the Slovak Republic (SR) from international environmental legislation and co-operation, j) provides expert assistance to MoE SR in the Slovak environmental legislation harmonisation with the regulations and procedures of the European Union k) co-operates with relevant professional institutions in the Slovak Republic and abroad. /3/ In individual spheres SEA performs following tasks: a) general and cross-sectional activities in all professional fields, 1. provides consulting and professional-methodical services, 2. tests and applies new procedures and methods on model territories, 3. provides for the development of basic legal documents, technical standards and methodical instruments, participates in the legislation process, 4. carries out educational and promotional activities, 5. participates in the development of conceptual and strategic documents, programmes, plans, studies, surveys, information, opinions and reports on the international, national and regional levels for MoE SR, including the participation in the development of expert documents for other Ministries, 6. carries out the expert activity and expert evaluation of documents, 7. collects, evaluates and processes data about the environmental situation, monitors development trends in individual professional fields, 8. implements strategic documents, plans and legal regulations, 9. manages housing fund and buildings, 10. performs, through its representative, the function of the national focal point of the European Environment Agency and is the national node of the European Information and Observation Network (EIONET) 11. provides accommodation, catering, recreation and complementary services in its facilities to ensure educational, promotional and other activities for payment and mediates recreations. SEA provides these services also to other organisations. 12. in order to apply verified information from the field of the care of protected species and protected landscape areas, SEA rents fishing or hunting grounds pursuant to the Act No. 23/1962 Coll. On hunting as amended and Act No. 139/2002 Coll. On fishery. 13. uses the managed tangible and intangible assets, financial sources and man-power in an efficient way for the fulfilment of set tasks and for the obtaining of additional financial sources for SEA′s development mainly by providing technical consultations, services in the field of computers, own software products, consultations in the field of exterior and interior architecture, economy and accounting, development of territorial-planning documents, engineering activities, promotion, advertisement, money exchange and publishing activities, preparation and organisation of seminars, conferences, training and meetings in various fields, etc. b) in the field of the state of the environment evaluation and environmental regional classification 1. monitors, collects, processes and evaluates environmental situation on the regional and national level and harmonises selected environmental indicators with international indicators, 2. co-ordinates works connected with the reporting process to EEA, OECD and EU, 3. works out annual draft Report on the State of Environment of the Slovak Republic, 4. prepares proposals for the environmental regional classification of the SR, draft environmental strategies, concepts and programmes on the basis of the evaluation of environmental situation and environment indicators, 5. provides methodical assistance in the regional and local environmental action plans development, c) in the field of environmental planning and environmental optimisation 1. develops and implements the methodology for the development of environmental planning documents and sustainable development documents on national, regional and local levels, 2. participates in the development of strategic, conceptual, planning and programming documents for sustainable development and the care of the environment of the SR, evaluates the fulfilment of measures stipulated in the above-mentioned documents. 3. co-ordinates methodically the development of documents of environmental planning and sustainable development on the regional level, 3 4. develops environmental analyses, environmental prognoses and environmental propositions. d) in the field of environmental impact assessment 1. develops expert opinions on the installations, constructions and other activities, which are being prepared, pursuant to the Act of the National Council of the SR No. 127/1994 Coll. On Environmental Impact Assessment for a competent body, intentions and reports on EIA pursuant to the given Act, 2. develops expert opinions for the evaluation of draft development concepts, draft development plans of regions and selected residential areas of selected towns, 3. participates in the evaluation and negotiation of draft generally binding legal regulations from the point of view of their expected impact on the environment, 4. builds up and operates the Documentation Centre, e) in the field of the optimisation of spatial arrangement and functional use of urban and rural landscape, its creation and protection 1. provides for analyses, draft concepts and complex and optimum solution of spatial arrangement and functional use of the landscape, suggests its principles, objective and co-ordination of activities affecting environment, ecological stability and cultural-historical values of landscape, 2. monitors and provides for the creation and protection of the landscape on sustainable development principles, 3. executes transferred activities connected with MoE competencies, such as the operation of executive secretariats for the Village Restoration Programme and international co-operation (the Slovak-Polish Commission, Slovak-Hungarian Commission, ARGE Donauländer, EEC UN Committee for Human Settlements, HABITAT II, etc.) 4. within the rural landscape creation and the protection of its historical structures, co-ordinates the Village Restoration Programme in Slovakia and provides the expert and operational support to it, 5. carries out the applied research activity, develops methodologies, strategies, prognoses, general plans, concepts and propositions of the optimum use of a part of the landscape, 6. monitors and evaluates the carrying capacity of the land in relation to risk factors and suggests principles of natural resources use. f) in the field of landscape-ecological planning 1. provides for surveys and analyses and develops draft landscape-ecological plans, 2. develops methodologies for the development, approval and implementation of landscape-ecological plans, 3. develops proposals for the revitalisation and renaturation of selected parts of the landscape, 4. develops documents for the creation of landscape-ecological basis for the integrated management of river basins. g) in the field of cultural landscape and natural heritage protection 1. co-ordinates activities focused on the care of the cultural landscape and natural heritage, especially the world heritage, 2. fulfils international obligations of the SR in the field of the world heritage protection and co-operates with involved institutions in the SR and abroad, 3. provides for the development of proposals for protected landscape areas announcement, 4. ensures the care of selected landscape protected areas. h) environmental risks and environmental safety 1. builds up and operates the Data Centre as the depository of data, methods and models connected with the environmental risk assessment, 2. develops analyses of environmental impacts, their chemical, physical and biological factors on human health and suggests preventive and corrective measures to minimise negative impacts, 3. performs the function of the Chemical Safety Workplace for the environment and carries out activities pursuant to § 35 of the Act No. 163/2001 On chemical substances and chemical preparations, 4. performs the expert activity in the development of programmes for chemical substances and preparations testing (sets the extent of testing) from the point of view of their environmental impact, 4 5. co-operates with the Centre for Chemical Substances and Preparations and executes activities to ensure functions delegated to the Chemical Safety Workplace and other activities to support the state administration in the given field with the focus on the issues of chemical safety in the Slovak Republic, 6. builds up and operates the Information System of Major Industrial Accidents Prevention in the conditions of the Slovak Republic, 7. operates the Information System for public in the field of major industrial accidents prevention, administers and updates the independent web page for the purposes of providing information to public pursuant to the Act No. 261/2002 Coll. On the prevention of major industrial accidents and on the amendments of some acts, 8. provides for the reporting process on behalf of the Slovak Republic in the field of major industrial accidents in relation to the European Commission through SPIRS (Seveso Plants Information Retrieval System) and MARS (Major Accident Reporting System). i) in the sphere of waste management and packaging 1. performs the function of a focal point for the Basel Convention (BC) in the Slovak Republic (SR), 2. performs the function of the centre of the “WASTE” partial monitoring system, operates the Waste subsystem (RISO) within the Information System on the Environment and processes data obtained by RISO on waste generation and management for the state administration bodies in waste management. 3. participates in the evaluation of objectives, measures and updating of the Waste Management Programme in the SR, 4. co-ordinates the conceptual and methodical development of waste ecoanalysis in the SR and its transfer to normative activities, 5. performs the function of the Reference Laboratory for Wastes for the environmental sector, 6. operates the Secretariat of the Regional Centre of the Basel Convention (RC BC) for the CEE countries with the seat in Bratislava and performs, in co-operation with the Secretariat of the Basel Convention (SBC) in Geneva, activities of the Regional Centre in accordance with the approved work programme and principles stipulated in the agreement signed by SBC and MoE SR 7. solves expert tasks, develops methodologies and procedures in the field of packaging and packaging waste. j) in the field of integrated prevention and pollution control (IPPC) 1. develops expert opinions concerning requests of permits within the IPPC process, 2. builds up and operates the IPPC information system, 3. provides information to the European Commission, 4. ensures training and educational activities for the employees of the environmental sector in IPPC process, k/ in the field of environmental evaluation and labelling of products 1. performs administrative and technical-organisational works connected with the implementation of the process of environmental evaluation and labelling of products in the SR including the supervision of the compliance with contractual conditions and executes the function of the documentary centre for the National Programme of Environmental Evaluation and Labelling of Products (hereinafter „Programme), 2. provides for the development of technical reports and directives for products evaluation in accordance with the Programme and keeps databases of offices, experts and opponents for the preparation of technical reports and directives, 3. develops annual reports on the state of the Programme in the Slovak Republic and other topical information and data concerning the above-mentioned Programme, 4. executes activities of the authorised body pursuant to the Act No. 469/2002 Coll. On environmental labelling of products. l) in the field of the system of the environmentally oriented management and audit 1. participates in the institutional framework creation and support to the implementation of the system of environmentally oriented management and audit pursuant to the Act No. 468/2002 Coll. 2. keeps the databases of entities certified according to ISO 14 001 and EMAS, certification bodies within SNAS and foreign accreditation bodies and relevant data documenting the level and distribution of voluntary instruments of environmental policy in the SR, 5 m) in the field of economy of the environment 1. carries out analyses and provides expert information for economic tools development and implementation to ensure the care of the environment, 2. evaluates the economic tools efficiency in the system of the care of the environment, 3. ensures tasks resulting from the Conception of the New Method of Environmental Funding and Protection approved by the Resolution of the Slovak Government No. 664/2000, 4. implements the state financial and budgetary policy with a special focus on proper use of the budgetary means and means from other Slovak and foreign funds, 5. ensures, from the financial and accounting point of view, the SEA′s work and operation in the fulfilment of its statutory obligations and entrepreneurial activities and applies measures and directives of MoE and other state administration bodies in this field in SEA′s activities, 6. executes activities connected with the marketing and management of SEA′s economic activities. 7. participates in the data preparation and collection and the evaluation of environmental statistic indicators from the Programme of the State Statistical Survey approved for the relevant period of time. n) in the field of environmental monitoring and informatics 1. co-ordinates individual partial monitoring systems from the point of view of the Information System of Monitoring development and ensures its building, 2. builds up the Information System of SEA as the subsystem of the Global Environmental Information and Monitoring System of the SR, 3. develops methodologies for individual layers creation of the geographic information system within the framework of the SEA′s information system, 4. keeps the register of basic residential areas, 5. builds up the Territorial Information System in co-operation with other professional organisations in the SR, 6. interconnects information about the territory and environment within SEA and in relation to the Global Environmental Information and Monitoring System of the SR, 7. provides professional supervision and co-ordination of the Global Environmental Monitoring and Information System of the SR in national as well as international context, 8. ensures, in co-operation with the state administration bodies and professional organisations, the building and operation of the Information System of Environmental Departments, 9. ensures the building and operation of the ZPNet computer network. o) in the field of environmental history, documentation and scientific-technical information 1. obtains, builds up and maintains information funds of national and foreign literature and other information sources of a documentary character about the environmental situation in the SR and abroad, 2. records and processes data on the development of the state of the environment and state of the environmental care in the SR, 3. records, processes and publishes data on the environmental policy development and other SEA´s activities , 4. creates and builds up databases of national sources within the framework of the information system of scientific and technical information. For this activity SEA uses also foreign information systems and sources. p) in the field of environmental education and promotion 1. ensures the implementation of selected measures from the Strategy of Environmental Education approved by the Resolution of the Slovak Government No. 846/1997, including issue of Enviromagazín, organisation of Envirofilm and other activities within Envirojar (Environmental Spring), 2. ensures environmental education pursuant to § 2, par. 2 of the Act No. 61/2000 Coll. On education and cultural activities, 3. ensures environmental education of SEA′s staff , 4. performs activities in the field of extramural environmental education resulting from the national strategy of the integrated educational system of the population towards environmental protection, 5. establishes and operates the network of SEA′s centres of environmental education, 6. ensures the promotion of SEA′s activities. 6 q) in the field of environmental projects programming and implementing 1. ensures environmental projects programming in SEA and MoE SR in close co-operation with relevant departments of MoE SR and its organisations (except for ISPA projects); if the projects are approved, prepares also their implementation, 2. ensures the analyses of environmental projects and sources of their financing in SEA and MoE SR (except for ISPA projects), 3. provides information and co-ordinates technical assistance in environmental projects programming in SEA and MoE SR (except for ISPA projects). /4/ The activities listed in the Article 2, par.2 and 3 SEA can perform also in the commercial way if MoE does not decide otherwise by a special decision. Article 3 Co-operation /1/ In fulfilling its tasks SEA co-operates with: a/ organisations operating within the environmental sector and other professional bodies focused on the care of the environment, b/ environmental departments of the Regional and District Offices c/ self-governmental regions and municipalities, d/ scientific organisations and universities dealing with environmental issues, e/ secretariats of international conventions in the field of environment and partner environmental agencies and similar foreign authorities, f/ partner institutions in the sphere of the evaluation and labelling of products, environmental equipment and technologies. /2/ SEA establishes and maintains contacts with associations of citizens and with legal and natural persons acting in the sphere of environmental protection. Article 4 Organisational structure of SEA /1/ From the organisational point of view SEA is divided into the headquarters and centres. /2/ The SEA′s expert activity is provided by: a) the Centre of the Environmental Regionalisation (CER) in Košice, b) the Centre of the Environmental Policy and Informatics (CEI) in Banská Bystrica, c) the Centre of the Landscape Creation (CTK) in Banská Bystrica, d) the Centre of the Landscape-ecological Planning (CKEP) in Prešov, e) the Centre for Polluted Sites Revitalisation (CRZO) in Prievidza, f) the Centre of Environmental Components (CZŽP) in Žilina, g) the Centre of Integrated Care of the Landscape (CISK-URBION) in Bratislava, h) the Centre of Waste Management and Environmental Management (COHEM) in Bratislava, e) the Centre of the Environmental Projects Programming in Banská Štiavnica, f) the Centre of the Environmental Education and Promotion (CEVAP) in Banská Bystrica, k) Headquarters in Banská Bystrica. 7 Article 5 SEA′s Financial Management /1/ SEA is a semi-budgetary organisation receiving funds for its activities from the MoE′s budget. SEA manages its budget and property independently, acquires rights and undertakes liabilities in its own name. /2/ SEA, in its economic activities, observes generally binding legal regulations for the economic activity of budgetary and semi-budgetary organisations. 1/ /3/ SEA uses its own financial means and means of the state budget for its activity. Funds received from the MoE′s budget are purpose-made and are specified in the binding outputs of MoE. /4/ SEA performs entrepreneurial activities above the framework of its main activities on the condition that tasks imposed on it by MoE are fulfilled. Funds obtained by the entrepreneurial activity SEA uses for the improvement of the services provided in the field of its main activities. Article 6 Principles of the SEA′s activities /1/ SEA′s activities are governed by the generally binding legal regulations and other legal acts and decrees adopted by the Natiooonal Council of the SR, Slovak Government, MoE or other relevant central bodies of the state administration, as well as by the long-term plan of main tasks and the annual plans of SEA′s main tasks ensuing from the National Strategy of the Sustainable Development, Strategy of the State Environmental Policy and from the National Environmental Action Programme approved by the Minister. /2/ The report on the fulfilment of the annual plan of main tasks the SEA′s General Director submits in writing to MoE. Article 7 Organisation of the SEA′s Management /1/ SEA is managed by the SEA′s General Director who answers for its activity and is its statutory body. SEA′s General Director is appointed and removed by the Minister of the Environment and he reports to the Minister of the Environment. /2/ In case of the SEA General Director′s absence the Deputy General Director acts on the General Director′s behalf to the extent of rights, duties and responsibilities entrusted to him by the General Director. /3/ The organisational structure and work content of SEA′s organisational units, their competencies, spheres of activity, liabilities and mutual relations and other matters concerning SEA and its management are governed by the Organisational Order issued by the SEA′s General Director on the basis and in compliance with this Statute and other regulations. Article 8 Final Provisions /1/ The Statute of the Slovak Environmental Agency No. 1393/2002-min dated 26 August 2002 is being cancelled. (2) This Statute comes into force on the 1 January 2003. László M i k l ó s Minister of the Environment of the Slovak Republic 1/ Act No. 303/1995 Coll. on the Budgetary Rules as amended 8