Translated from Lithuanian
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW ON PUBLIC HEALTH
16 May 2002 – No IX-886
Vilnius
(As last amended on 29 April 2010 – No XI-792)
CHAPTER I
General Provisions
Article 1. Purpose of the Law
1. This Law shall define public health care, the structure and state regulation of this care system, establish grounds for public health improvement, disease and injury prevention, public health safety and control, grounds for the acquisition of the right by natural persons to engage in public health practice and their professional development, as well as legal relationships between legal and natural persons in the field of public health.
2. Public health care shall be governed by this Law, other laws and other legal acts regulating individual areas of activity that have effects on public health.
Article 2. Definitions
2. “Public health care” means the totality of organisational, legal, economic, technical, social and medical measures facilitating the implementation of disease and injury prevention, also the preservation and improvement of public health.
4. “Public health determinants” means the totality of biological, chemical, economic, ergonomic, physical, social, psychological and other factors of the human environment affecting both human and public health.
5. “Public health care audit” means the assessment of the effectiveness, quality (appropriateness) and availability of public health care services provided by persons.
6. “Public health promotion” means the totality of state, municipal and civic initiative measures aimed at forming healthy lifestyle.
7. “Public health risk factors” means natural and man-made factors, as well as living and behavioural habits which entail risk to the health of the whole population or its individual groups.
8. “Public health impact assessment” means the process of determining, describing and assessing the effects of public health determinants of a proposed economic activity on health.
9. “Expert examination of public health safety” means the determination, description and assessment of likely and/or present effects of public health determinants on public health, as well as the formulation of findings and proposals on the prevention or limitation of negative impact.
11. “Public health safety” means the totality of organisational, technical, social, economic and legal measures intended to protect the health of the public or its individual groups against harmful effects of public health determinants or to minimise the risk of such effects.
12. “Public health safety regulation (hygiene norm)” means a legal act approved by the Minister of Health establishing general mandatory legal norms in the area of public health safety.
13. “Epidemiologically relevant activity” means any activity where persons come into direct contact with unpackaged food products, provide centralised water supply, maintain water supply systems, manufacture medicinal products, cosmetic products and personal hygiene products or provide cosmetic, bathhouse, haircutting and other services coming into direct contact with the human body.
14. “State control over public health safety” means actions carried out by state institutions and officials for assessing the conformity of an economic activity to the requirements of regulatory enactments on public health safety and imposing administrative sanctions.
15. “Member State” means any Member State of the European Union or country of the European Economic Area.
Article 3. Principles of Public Health Care
The key principles of public health care guiding the provision of public health care shall be as follows:
1) universal coverage, acceptability, adequacy, accessibility and scientific validity of public health care;
2) provision of immediate and comprehensive information to the public, education on public health issues;
5) cooperation between state authorities and economic entities in shaping and implementing the public health policy;
Article 4. Ways and Measures to Ensure Public Health and the Public’s Ability to Improve its Health
1. Public health and the public’s ability to improve its health must be ensured by the following ways and measures:
2) state regulation of public health care, development and implementation of targeted programmes intended to ensure the quality of the life of the population;
4) certification of products and licensing of activities posing a potential threat (risk) to human health;
5) public health monitoring and expert examination, immediate public information about emergent communicable diseases, poisoning incidents and other outbreaks of communicable diseases, the status of the living environment, disease control and prevention measures, healthy lifestyle promotion and population health promotion;
Article 5. Structure of the System of Public Health Care Institutions
1. The system of public health care institutions shall be comprised of:
1) bodies of public administration in the field of public health belonging to the Lithuanian national health system;
2) budgetary and public institutions of public health care and personal health care belonging to the Lithuanian national health system, which are providing public health care services and implementing organisational, social and medical measures intended for disease and injury prevention, as well as public health preservation and improvement;
3) other legal persons established in the Republic of Lithuania, legal persons and organisations of other EU Member States or their branches, as well as branches of legal persons or organisations established in other EU Member States or foreign states, being registered in the Republic of Lithuania, which are implementing organisational, legal, technical and/or social measures intended for disease and injury prevention, public health preservation and improvement and have contracts concluded with clients of activities of the Lithuanian national health system in accordance with the procedure laid down by law – for the period of these contracts.
Article 6. Public Health Care Provided by Municipalities
1. Municipalities shall:
1) carry out public health monitoring in order to obtain comprehensive information about the state of public health in the respective municipality, health risk factors and, on the basis of such information, to plan and implement municipal public health improvement measures;
2) organise public health improvement in the community, involve the community and social partners in these activities;
3) taking into account the prevailing public health problems, within their competence, develop, approve and implement targeted municipal health programmes, legal acts relating to health promotion activities and agreements on health promotion activities, as well as participate in the implementation of state public health strategies and programmes;
4) carry out public health care of children and young people, coordinate activities of public health specialists working at general education schools, health specialists working at pre-school establishments, as well as organise and coordinate measures intended to promote the health of students;
5) within their competence, organise the prevention of alcohol, tobacco and psychoactive substance consumption;
6) within their competence, organise the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases, accidents and injuries;
8) within their competence, organise the prevention of the public health effects of ionising and non-ionising radiation;
9) within their competence, participate in the implementation of mental health improvement activities and illness prevention;
10) within their competence, carry out supervision of the implementation of sanitary protection zones;
2. Municipalities shall establish budgetary institutions of public health care – municipal public health bureaus – to perform public health care functions. A municipal public health bureau shall, under the inter-municipal cooperation agreement, have the right to provide public health care services to residents of other municipalities as well.
3. The list of mandatory positions at a municipal public health bureau and relevant qualification requirements shall be established by the Minister of Health.
4. Public health care provided by municipalities shall be financed from the state and municipal budgets, the special municipal public health support programme, the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund and other legally obtained funds.
Article 7. Public Health Care Provided by the State
1. The competence of state institutions in the field of public health care shall be established by this Law, the Law on the Health System, as well as other legal acts regulating individual areas of public health care as defined in the Law on the Health System.
2. The founder of public health care institutions belonging to the Lithuanian national health system and operating on the entire territory of the State, shall be the Ministry of Health or another institution authorised by the Government. The activities of these institutions shall be aimed at accomplishing the public health care objectives and tasks defined by legal acts and providing public health care services.
3. Budgetary institutions of public health care belonging to the Lithuanian national health system, operating on the entire territory of the State and the founder of which is the Ministry of Health, shall carry out:
1) prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases, accidents and injuries by implementing policies of healthy nutrition, physical activity, reduction of the nutrition and lifestyle-related morbidity rate, as well as healthy environment and food safety;
2) public mental health care, as well as mental illness and addiction prevention and monitoring by organising a coordinated, multidisciplinary and complex system of prevention, treatment, psychosocial rehabilitation and reintegration for persons with mental disorders and their families, by ensuring interinstitutional cooperation and coordination of actions in implementing programmes designed to stabilise and reduce cases of domestic, workplace and societal violence, abuse, taunting, aggression, and cases of self-aggression, as well as by implementing a policy contributing to a reduced number of alcohol, tobacco and psychoactive substance addiction cases and the associated economic burden;
3) prevention and control measures for the epidemiological surveillance of communicable diseases in humans seeking to reduce the morbidity, mortality and invalidity rate of the population due to such diseases, as well as eradication of certain communicable diseases, adequate preparation for, and response to, threats presented to the public by communicable diseases;
4. The nomenclature of budgetary institutions of public health care belonging to the Lithuanian national health system, operating on the entire territory of the State and the founder of which is the Ministry of Health, has been established in the Law on Health Care Institutions.
Article 9. Coordination of, and Control over, the System of Public Health Care Institutions
The activities of public health care institutions shall be coordinated and controlled by the Ministry of Health and, within their competence, by other institutions.
Article 10. Strategic Planning and Implementation of State and Municipal Public Heath Care
1. The objectives and tasks of the national public health care policy, as well as attainable targets relating to the level of health of the population shall be set by the Seimas by approving the Lithuanian Health Programme.
2. For the purpose of implementing the Lithuanian Health Programme, the Government shall approve the Lithuanian National Public Health Care Strategy.
3. When implementing the Lithuanian Health Programme, state institutions shall incorporate the provisions of the Lithuanian National Public Health Care Strategy into socio-economic programmes, plans and regional development programmes under development.
4. Municipal institutions shall implement the Lithuanian National Public Health Care Strategy through municipal health programmes.
5. The development and implementation of the Lithuanian National Public Health Care Strategy, its implementation plans and programmes shall be coordinated by an institution authorised by the Government. It shall prepare and disclose publicly a report on the implementation of the Lithuanian National Public Health Care Strategy and hold the biennial public consideration of its results.
Article 12. Entities of Public Administration in the Field of Public Health
Public administration in the field of public health shall, within their respective competence, be exercised by the Government, the Ministry of Health, other ministries, governmental agencies, the State Public Health Service under the Ministry of Health (hereinafter referred to as “the State Public Health Service”), the State Health Care Accreditation Agency under the Ministry of Health (hereinafter referred to as “the State Health Care Accreditation Agency”), the Radiation Protection Centre, other state and municipal institutions and agencies.
Article 13. Evaluation and Coordination of Public Administration in the Field of Public Health
The planning and implementation of public health policy measures at ministries, governmental agencies shall be coordinated by the State Health Commission under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, while an institution authorised by the Government shall organise an annual evaluation of public administration in the field of public health.
Article 15. Competence of the State Public Health Service and Subordinate Territorial Public Health Care Institutions
1. The State Public Health Service shall:
1) within its competence, organise the supervision of the implementation of the public health care strategy in line with the health policies established by the World Health Organisation, the European Union, as well as the Seimas, the Government and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania;
2) exercise public health safety control over services provided by personal health care institutions, educational establishments, residential care and nursing institutions, internet cafes and clubs, passenger carriage by train, ship and ferry on internal routes, police detention stations and imprisonment institutions, legal persons, state enterprises, municipal enterprises, public establishments, as well as branches of foreign legal persons and other organisations (hereinafter referred to as an “enterprise”) manufacturing products intended to come into contact with food and cosmetic products, hair, cosmetic, tattoo salons, beauty parlours, solariums, swimming pools, laundries, bathhouses, saunas, sports clubs, as well as accommodation services, the provision of funeral services (storage of human corpses, their preparation for viewing, and laying out), embalming and cremation activities;
3) on the basis of applications, notifications and complaints filed by persons, exercise control over compliance with public health safety regulations (hygiene norms) (State control over public health safety) according to the list of areas subject to control established by the Minister of Health, where such control is not assigned to other entities of public administration;
4) within the competence defined by the Law on the Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases in Humans, carry out communicable disease prevention and control;
5) within its competence, take part in exercising state supervision of territorial planning and construction;
6) exercise state control over public health safety of radio-technical facilities, coordinate, in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health, projects of the radio-technical component and electromagnetic radiation monitoring plans submitted by economic entities;
8) exercise state control over public health safety of stationary sources of noise in noise abatement zones;
10) in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health, recognise natural mineral waters placed on the market of the Republic of Lithuania and grant recognitions of natural mineral waters in the Republic of Lithuania; State fees and charges shall be levied for the granting of recognitions of natural mineral waters in the Republic of Lithuania, the issuance of duplicates of, and the revision of, such these recognitions, except for the cases where a recognition is revised in order to correct the mistakes made when granting the recognition;
11) in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health, issue hygiene certificates of non-food products for materials and products placed on the market of the Republic of Lithuania, which are intended to come into contact with food and imported from states other than EU Member States. State fees and charges shall be levied for the issuance of hygiene certificates of non-food products for materials and products intended to come into contact with food, the issuance of duplicates of, and the revision of, these certificates, except for the cases where a certificate is revised in order to correct the mistakes made when issuing the certificate;
12) in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health, notify food supplements and cosmetic products;
13) in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health, issue certificates of competency to persons manufacturing, placing on the market, acquiring, keeping, using and marketing toxic substances; State fees and charges shall be levied for the issuance of certificates of competency to persons manufacturing, placing on the market, acquiring, keeping, using and marketing toxic substances, the issuance of duplicates of, and the revision of, these certificates, except for the cases where a certificate is revised in order to correct the mistakes made when issuing the certificate;
2. The procedure for performing the functions of the State Public Health Service referred to in subparagraphs 4 and 5 of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be established by the Minister of Health, unless laws and other legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania provide otherwise.
3. Territorial public health care institutions subordinate to the State Public Health Service shall:
2) issue permits-hygiene passports to persons referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 21 of this Law, monitor compliance with the conditions contained therein;
3) in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health, issue ship sanitation control exemption certificates and ship sanitation control certificates. State fees and charges shall be levied for the issuance of ship sanitation control exemption certificates and ship sanitation control certificates;
Article 16. Public Health Safety Regulation (Hygiene Norm)
1. Mandatory hygiene standards and rules regulating the activities of natural and legal persons shall be set by a public health safety regulation (hygiene norm).
Article 17. Publication of Public Health Legal Acts
Enterprises, establishments and organisations the activities whereof are established by public health safety regulations (hygiene norms) and other public health care legal acts must provide access for employees to these documents.
Article 18. Health Environment Protection
1. The health environment shall be protected by the following measures:
1) improving the environment so that is it beneficial to human health, reducing the adverse health effects of human activities, eliminating the environmental damage caused by human activities;
2) ensuring the reliability and availability of cumulative data describing the health environment from different aspects, as well as its use in assessing the state of public health and analysing tendencies and impact;
4) informing and educating the public on health environment issues, cooperating in the pursuit of healthy environment goals;
Article 19. Ensuring Healthy Nutrition
1. Healthy nutrition shall be ensured by the following measures:
1) collection of scientifically established data on the nutrition of the Lithuanian population, and creation of a healthy nutrition education system;
2) reduction of the spread of food- and drinking water-borne diseases, establishment of preventive measures;
5) coordination of the implementation of the food safety policy with the view of reducing the morbidity of the population;
6) monitoring and assessment of the nutritional status in the population, development of measures aimed at improving the nutritional status;
Article 20. National Environmental Health Action Plan (Programme)
1. The Government shall approve the National Environmental Health Action Plan (Programme) providing for disease and injury prevention and control as well as measures for the implementation of this plan (programme).
Article 21. Human Living Environment Safety
1. A safe human living environment shall be ensured by the following measures:
4) planting of the territory with plants that do not cause allergy and have no toxic health effects;
2. State and municipal institutions shall, within their competence, ensure the implementation of the measures provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article.
3. A citizen of the Republic of Lithuania or any other EU Member State, any other natural person who benefits from the rights of movement within the Republic of Lithuania or other EU Member States conferred upon him by legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania or the European Union, legal person established in the Republic of Lithuania, a legal person or organisation of other EU Member States or their branches, as well as branches of legal persons or organisations established in other EU Member States or foreign states and registered in the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as a “natural or legal person or branch”) shall be authorised to engage in activities referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article only subject to a permit-hygiene passport issued in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law and other legal acts. The Rules for issuing permits-hygiene passports (hereinafter referred to as the “Rules”) shall be approved by the Minister of Health. A natural or legal person or branch shall not be required to meet the requirements or conditions specified in the Rules where, within the time limit laid down in the Rules, it is established that equivalent or essentially comparable requirements or conditions have already been satisfied by the natural or legal person or branch concerned in another EU Member State and they are complied with.
4. The following kinds of activities shall be subject to a permit-hygiene passport:
1) activities of outpatient institutions of personal health care (according to the list of licensed outpatient personal health care services approved by the Minister of Health);
2) activities of hospitals (according to the list of licensed inpatient personal health care services approved by the Minister of Health);
4) education activities: pre-school education activities, education activities of general education schools, education activities of children's non-formal education schools, education activities of vocational schools, education activities of higher education institutions;
5) activities of residential adult care and nursing institutions, activities of residential child and youth care and nursing institutions;
6) accommodation service activities (activities of hotels, motels, guesthouses, resort sanatoriums, resort rehabilitation centres, camping sites, tourist centres, rest houses, youth hostels);
7) beauty service activities (hair care services, face care services, body care services, nail care services, tattoo services, permanent makeup services, piercing services);
13) activities relating to the provision of funeral services (storage of human corpses, their preparation for viewing, and laying out), cremation activities, embalming activities;
5. Requirements for premises and their fitting-out, persons carrying out an economic activity, the implements and equipment used in carrying out a particular economic activity which is subject to a permit-hygiene passport shall be laid down in public health safety regulations (hygiene norms) and other legal acts on public health safety.
6. Prior to issuing a permit-hygiene passport it shall be assessed whether duly executed documents proving the legitimate use of premises and/or equipment have been submitted, an on-site assessment of the conditions of exercising the economic activity shall be carried out to check and assess whether the conditions of the envisaged economic activity conform to the requirements of public health safety regulations (hygiene norms) and other legal acts regulating public health safety of the kinds of activities referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article. An assessment of the conditions of executing the economic activity shall be carried out, and a decision to issue a permit-hygiene passport shall be taken in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Rules.
7. A permit-hygiene passport shall not be issued if:
1) conclusions of the statement on the assessment of the conditions of exercising the economic activity indicate that the conditions of the economic activity do not conform to the requirements of public health safety regulations (hygiene norms) and other legal acts regulating public health safety;
2) a natural or legal person or branch has failed, within the set time limit, to enable the institution issuing permits-hygiene passports to carry out an assessment of the conditions of exercising the economic activity;
3) a natural or legal person or branch has failed, within the set time limit, to submit protocols for laboratory tests which are necessary to assess the conditions of the economic activity;
*4) according to the data of the Real Property Register, the subgroup of the intended use of the premises which are envisaged to be used for an economic activity does not correspond to the economic activity in respect of which a permit-hygiene passport is applied for. Groups and subgroups of the intended use of buildings shall be established by the Minister of Environment.
*Note. Subparagraph 4 of paragraph 7 of Article 21 shall enter into force as of 1 January 2012.
8. A permit-hygiene passport shall be revised by issuing a new permit-hygiene passport if the following data specified in the permit-hygiene passport change: name, registered office and code (a new code being given) of a legal person or branch, personal data, correspondence address of a natural person, or other data (particulars) not related to the conditions of the respective economic activity; upon the reorganisation of a legal person if the location of the economic activity is not changed; as well as seeking to correct the mistakes made when issuing the permit-hygiene passport. A permit-hygiene passport shall be revised in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Rules on the basis of the statement on the assessment of the conditions of exercising the economic activity carried out by then.
9. A permit-hygiene passport shall be suspended:
1) if state control over public health safety reveals that the conditions of the economic activity no longer conform to the requirements of public health safety regulations (hygiene norms) and other legal acts on public health safety, and the holder of the permit-hygiene passport having been warned about the identified shortcomings and/or violations in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Rules does not, within the set time limit, remedy these shortcomings and/or violations;
10. Where a permit-hygiene passport has been suspended on the ground set in subparagraph 1 of paragraph 9 of Article 21 of this Law, the suspension of the permit-hygiene passport shall be lifted only upon an assessment of the conditions of exercising the economic activity, whereby those aspects of the economic activity should be assessed which led to a decision to suspend the permit-hygiene passport, and after having established that the economic activity conforms to the requirements of public health safety regulations (hygiene norms) and other legal acts on public health safety. An assessment of the conditions of exercising the economic activity shall be carried out, and a decision to lift, or to refuse the lifting of, the suspension of the permit-hygiene passport shall be taken in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Rules.
11. Where a permit-hygiene passport has been suspended on the ground set in subparagraph 2 of paragraph 9 of Article 21 of this Law, the suspension of the permit-hygiene passport shall be lifted upon the receipt of a request from the holder of the permit-hygiene passport to lift the suspension of the permit-hygiene passport and subject to the notification by the applicant in the request that the conditions of economic activities, which existed before the suspension of the permit-hygiene passport, have not changed.
12. A permit-hygiene passport shall be revoked if:
1) the holder of the permit-hygiene passport submits a request to revoke the permit-hygiene passport;
2) the legal person or branch is being liquidated or reorganised changing the location of the economic activity, or the natural person dies;
3) a natural or legal person or branch having been warned about the revocation of the permit-hygiene passport in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Rules has failed, within six months after the suspension of the permit-hygiene passport, to produce evidence proving that the shortcomings and/or violations which led to a decision to suspend the permit-hygiene passport have been adequately remedied and has not applied to the institution issuing permits-hygiene passports for lifting the suspension of the permit-hygiene passport or has applied but, following the evaluation of the submitted documents and the assessment of the conditions of exercising the economic activity, a decision has been taken to refuse the lifting of the suspension of the permit-hygiene passport;
13. A permit-hygiene passport shall be issued for an indefinite period. State fees and charges shall be levied for the issuance of permits-hygiene passports or their duplicates, as well as for the revision of permits-hygiene passports, except for the cases where a permit-hygiene passport is revised in order to correct the mistakes made when issuing the permit-hygiene passport. Permits-hygiene passports shall be accounted for and registered in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Rules.
Article 22. Repealed on 1 July 2010.
Article 23. Conformity of Territories and Construction Works to Public Health Care Legal Acts
All construction participants, state institutions in charge of territorial planning and state supervision of construction, as well as entities setting design conditions must ensure that territorial planning documents, design documentation of construction works, the environment landscaped and the construction works constructed according to them conform to the requirements of public health care legal acts.
Article 24. Sanitary Protection Zones
1. Persons designing, constructing, reconstructing, managing or owning buildings which are used for carrying out activities that are epidemiologically relevant or related to the pollution of the human living environment shall design and set up sanitary protection zones around these buildings. The boundaries of a sanitary protection zone shall be established when drawing up master, special and detailed plans or undertaking reconstructions of economic entities, the modernisation or change of their manufacturing process, which lead to a change in the kind or intensity of a proposed economic activity. The establishment of the boundaries of sanitary protection zones shall be organised by the organiser of territorial planning.
2. Kinds of economic activities which are subject to sanitary protection zones, the extent of the boundaries of a sanitary protection zone, and regime requirements shall be established by the Government. Sizes of sanitary protection zones may, in accordance with the procedure established by the Government, be adjusted (by increasing or decreasing them).
Article 25. Ensuring Public Health Safety when Planning Territories, Commencing or Expanding Economic Activities
1. When preparing documents of environmental impact assessment of the proposed economic activity, territorial planning documents and design documentation of construction works, natural and legal persons shall carry out a public health impact assessment in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.
Article 26. Epidemiological Surveillance and Surveys of Non-communicable Diseases and Injuries
1. Non-communicable diseases and injuries resulting from lifestyle practices and habits, working, educational and other activity conditions shall be subject to epidemiological surveillance.
2. Compulsory epidemiological surveillance of non-communicable disease and injury control and prevention shall cover persons whose activities involve poisonous substances or their products, who provide centralised water supply, maintain water supply systems, manufacture medicinal products, cosmetic products and personal hygiene products or provide cosmetic and other services in the course of which the human environment is affected by chemical, economic, ergonomic, physical, social and psychological factors.
3. The Ministry of Health shall establish lists of non-communicable diseases which are analysed epidemiologically, and special hygiene requirements for the pursuit of the activities referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article.
4. Territorial patients’ funds shall organise biennial surveys of the state of health of persons covered by compulsory health insurance of the Republic of Lithuania and the prevalence of risk factors. The procedure for such surveys shall be established by the Government or an institution authorised by it.
5. Territorial patients’ funds shall organise the economic assessment of the consequences of diseases and injuries, and of the health care of persons covered by compulsory health insurance. The content of, and the procedure for, this exercise shall be established by the Government or an institution authorised by it.
Article 27. Non-communicable Disease Control and Prevention Management
1. The epidemiological surveillance of non-communicable diseases typical of a particular territorial administrative unit shall be carried out by municipal institutions in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Public Health Monitoring.
2. For the duration of its term of office, a municipal council shall approve non-communicable disease prevention and control, as well as health maintenance and improvement programmes specifying the health targets to be attained during its terms of office, and hear reports presented by the mayor on the implementation of these programmes.
Article 28. Epidemiologically Relevant Activity
Epidemiologically relevant activities which, in the event of non-compliance with the set hygiene requirements, would entail a risk of contracting communicable diseases and lead to outbreaks of non-communicable diseases shall be established by the Ministry of Health.
Article 29. Ensuring of Harmlessness to Consumer Health
1. It shall be allowed to manufacture, distribute and use new types of raw materials, products (building materials, containers, packaging materials, perfumeries and cosmetics, products intended for children, etc.), introduce new technological lines, processes, new equipment, instruments and working tools, provided they comply with the requirements of legal acts.
Article 30. Information System
1. For the purpose of promoting home accident prevention, product safety improvement and consumer information and education so that consumers use products in a safer way, the Ministry of Health shall develop an information system on consumer poisoning incidents and accidents.
2. The information system on consumer poisoning incidents and accidents shall be used to compile information about poisoning incidents and home accidents which have resulted in harm to, or the death of, persons.
Article 31. Product Safety
Safe products must conform to the mandatory product safety requirements laid down by laws and other legal acts.
Article 32. Repealed on 1 July 2010.
Article 33. Public Health Improvement
Public health improvement shall comprise health education, the dissemination of information about healthy lifestyles, healthy lifestyle promotion and formation, the reduction of behavioural public health risk factors, as well as other measures provided for in this Law and public health care legal acts.
Article 34. Public Health Education
1. Civil servants must have knowledge about the formation and implementation of the public health policy and strategies. Groups and categories of civil servants who must acquire such knowledge, their training programmes and procedure shall be established by the Government or institutions authorised by it.
2. State and municipal public health care institutions shall organise training for members of municipal communities, members of interested public organisations on how to address public health problems.
3. State and municipal institutions shall integrate education relating to public health improvement into training, in-service training and retraining programmes for public health specialists, social workers, pedagogues, children's education and physical training specialists.
4. Persons who are employed in the professions entered in the list approved by the Government or an institution authorised by it must acquire health knowledge in compliance with the requirements set down by the Minister of Health. The compulsory health education of these persons shall be carried out by natural or legal persons or branches licensed for such activities.
5. Where an employee, except for civil servants of public administration, refuses to complete a compulsory health training course, the employer shall suspend him from work or, where possible, transfer him to another job in the same workplace, which does not require compulsory health training knowledge.
6. The list of professions and activities of persons who, by virtue of their work or another activity, must acquire knowledge and skills in providing first medical aid, as well as the training procedure shall be established by the Government or an institution authorised by it.
Article 35. Health Awareness
1. The mass media must inform the population about situations detrimental, hazardous and dangerous to its health, allow officials and specialists of institutions of public administration in the field of public health to explain measures that would help to avoid or reduce harm to health.
Article 36. Child Health Protection and Improvement
1. Pre-school establishments and general education schools must have adequate facilities for preserving and improving children’s health, ensuring children's health care.
2. Child health protection shall be implemented by:
1) ensuring conditions for children's education, learning, nutrition, physical training and sports, rest, medical and psychological assistance, as well as the protection of children against harmful effects on physical and mental health, as laid down by laws and other legal acts;
Article 37. Activities of Persons to Improve Public Health
1. The State shall promote the activities of natural and legal persons intended to improve public health, help to create a healthy environment, encourage people to lead healthy lives and to strengthen motivation for healthy lifestyle.
Article 38. Public Health Impact Assessment of a Proposed Economic Activity
1. When carrying out a public health impact assessment of a proposed economic activity, the likely effects of public health determinants on public health shall be determined.
2. A public health impact assessment of a proposed economic activity shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment of the Proposed Economic Activity and other legal acts.
Article 39. Expert Examination of Public Health Safety
1. The expert examination of public health safety shall be carried out by determining, describing and assessing likely and/or present effects of physical, chemical, biological, mutagenic, teratogenic, psychosocial, ergonomic and other factors on public health, as well as formulating findings and proposals on the prevention or limitation of negative impact.
2. The expert examination of public health safety may be carried out by persons who have acquired the right to engage in this activity in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts. In the cases and in accordance with the procedure established by the Government, the state expert examination of public health safety shall be carried out by state establishments authorised by the Government.
3. Findings of the expert examination of public health safety shall be submitted to competent state and municipal institutions; the latter shall examine them and, where necessary, take appropriate measures.
4. In accordance with the procedure and in the cases established by the Government, an expert examination of public health safety shall be carried out at the expense of economic entities, while a state expert examination of public health safety shall be carried out on commission by state public administration institutions and financed by the state budget.
Article 40. Assessment of Standards, Technical Documents from the Public Health Point of View
Draft standards, technical documents that may affect the occurrence of public health factors shall also be assessed from the public health point of view.
Article 41. Control over Public Health
3. Public administration institutions shall exercise control over public health within their competence defined by legal acts.
4. Control over the implementation of sanitary measures in the territories of municipalities shall be exercised by municipal sanitary inspectors in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health.
5. State control over public health safety shall be exercised in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Regulations concerning direct state control over public health safety approved by the Minister of Health.
6. When exercising state control over public health safety in objects specified in subparagraphs 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of paragraph 1 of Article 15 of this Law (hereinafter referred to as “objects of control”), servants of the State Public Health Service and subordinate territorial public health care institutions shall have the right to:
1) upon production of their official identity card and instructions issued by the head of an institution or a person authorised by him, freely and without prior notice, enter objects of control during their working hours;
3) request heads of objects of control or persons authorised by them to come and give oral and/or written explanations;
4) propose to the respective institution to suspend or revoke a licence to engage in economic activities for persons whose activities may cause or have caused harm to health;
7. Civil servants of the State Public Health Service and subordinate territorial public health care institutions may also have other rights provided for in other laws.
8. Servants of the State Public Health Service and subordinate territorial public health care institutions, who are authorised to exercise state control over public health safety, shall be held liable under the law for violating the requirements of this Law.
9. Actions of servants of the State Public Health Service and subordinate territorial public health care institutions may be complained against in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Administrative Proceedings.
10. State control over public health safety at institutions of the national defence system shall be exercised by an institution authorised by the Minister of National Defence in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of National Defence, in consultation with the Ministry of Health. Servants of an institution authorised by the Minister of National Defence, who are authorised to exercise state control over public health safety, shall have the rights provided for in paragraph 6 of this Article and other laws. Servants of an institution authorised by the Minister of National Defence, who are authorised to exercise state control over public health safety, shall be held liable under the law for violating the requirements of this Law.
Article 42. State Audit of Public Health Activities
State audit of public health activities shall be performed by the Ministry of Health or an institution authorised by it in accordance with the procedure established by the Government.
Article 43. Right to Engage in Public Health Practice
1. The right to engage in public health practice in the Republic of Lithuania shall be enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Lithuania or any other EU Member State, other natural persons who benefit from the rights of movement within the Republic of Lithuania or other EU Member States conferred upon them by legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania or the European Union, legal persons established in the Republic of Lithuania, legal persons and organisations of other EU Member States or their branches, as well as branches of legal persons or organisations established in other EU Member States or foreign states and registered in the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as a “natural or legal person or branch”), which hold a valid licence issued in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law and other legal acts.
2. The licensed public health activities shall be as follows:
3. A natural person seeking to engage in a licensed public health activity shall be issued a licence for public health practice in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Regulations for the Licensing of Public Health Practice (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”), provided all the documents specified in these Regulations are submitted and the natural person concerned meets the requirements laid down in subparagraphs 1 and 2 of this paragraph. A licence for public health practice shall not be issued if a natural person has not submitted all the required documents, does not meet the requirements laid down in subparagraphs 1 and 2 of this paragraph and/or has not fulfilled any other conditions specified in the Regulations. The Regulations shall be approved by the Minister of Health. A natural person wishing to obtain a licence for public health practice must meet the following requirements:
1) education, qualification and experience must comply with the qualification requirements laid down in the Regulations for persons seeking to engage in a particular public health activity;
4. A legal person or branch seeking to engage in a licensed public health activity shall be issued a licence for public health practice in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Regulations, provided all the documents specified in the Regulations are submitted and the legal person or branch concerned meets the requirements laid down in subparagraphs 1 and 2 of this paragraph. A licence for public health practice shall not be issued if a legal person or branch has not submitted all the required documents, does not meet the requirements laid down in subparagraphs 1 and 2 of this paragraph and/or has not fulfilled any other conditions specified in the Regulations. A legal person or branch wishing to obtain a licence for public health practice must meet the following requirements:
1) to have implements and equipment required for a particular licensed activity, as specified in the List of Implements and Equipment for Licensed Public Health Activities approved by the Minister of Health;
5. A natural or legal person or branch shall not be required to meet the requirements or conditions specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article where, within the time limit laid down in the Regulations, it is established that equivalent or essentially comparable requirements or conditions have already been satisfied by the natural or legal person or branch concerned in another EU Member State and they are complied with. A licence or any other document granting the right to engage in a particular public health activity, which has been issued to a natural or legal person or branch in another EU Member State, shall be recognised in the Republic of Lithuania where, within the time limit laid down in the Regulations, it is established that the conditions and requirements relating to the issuance of the licence held or any other document granting the right to engage in a particular public health activity are equivalent or essentially comparable to the conditions and requirements set for the issuance of licences for public health practice, as laid down in Article 43 of this Law.
6. A licence shall be revised by issuing a new licence if the following data specified in the licence change: personal data, correspondence address of a natural person, name and registered office of a legal person, other organisation or branch, code of a legal person or other data (particulars) not related to the licensed public health activity, as well as seeking to correct the mistakes made when issuing the licence. A licence shall be revised on the basis of the relevant data submitted.
7. A licence shall be suspended if:
1) the licence holder fails to comply with the conditions of the licensed activity, does not meet the qualification requirements or violates the requirements of laws and other legal acts relating to the licensed activity and, after having been warned about the identified shortcomings and/or violations in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Regulations, does not, within the set time limit, remedy the shortcomings of the licensed activity and/or violations or does not submit any documents of proof thereof;
8. The suspension of the licence shall be lifted if the holder of the licence which was suspended submits documents proving that non-compliance with the conditions of the licensed activity, shortcomings and/or violations which led to the suspension of his licence have been remedied, or at the request of the licence holder where the licence was suspended at his request. A licence shall be suspended and its suspension shall be lifted in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Regulations.
9. A licence shall be revoked if:
5) the licence holder whose licence was suspended has failed, after having been warned about the revocation of the licence in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Regulations, to remedy the identified shortcomings or violations within the set time limit and/or has not applied for lifting the suspension of the licence or has applied but a decision has been taken to refuse the lifting of the suspension of the licence;
10. When carrying out the licensed activity, licence holders must comply with the conditions of the licensed activity specified in the Regulations. Licences shall be issued for an unlimited period.
11. The minimum number of persons which can engage in pest control (disinfection, disinsectisation, deratisation) activities shall be set by an order of the Minister of Health, where it is necessary in order to ensure the safety of the health of persons performing pest control and the public. Pest control (disinfection, disinsectisation, deratisation), cases and conditions of pest control activities, as well as pest control treatments must comply with the requirements set down by the Minister of Health.
12. Compulsory first aid training, hygiene education, education about alcohol- and drug-related harm to human health shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health.
13. The expert examination of public health safety shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure established by the Government.
14. Public health impact assessment shall be carried out in accordance with the methodological instructions approved by the Minister of Health.
15. The State Health Care Accreditation Agency shall issue, register, revise, suspend, and lift the suspension of licences, and publish such information in the supplement Informaciniai pranešimai to the official gazette Valstybės žinios or place it on the website of the institution.
16. State fees and charges shall be levied for the issuance of licences and duplicates of licences granting the right to natural or legal persons or branches to engage in a particular licensed public health activity, and the revision of licences, except for the cases where a licence is revised in order to correct the mistakes made when issuing the licence.
Article 45. Professional Development of Public Health Specialists
1. Professional development of public health specialists shall be the improvement of theoretical and practical knowledge.
2. Theoretical and practical professional development of public health specialists shall be carried out in the following forms:
1) courses and seminars held by educational establishments registered in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts and holding authorisations for such activities;
2) scientific conferences and workshops held by academic societies of higher education institutions and public health specialists;
3) theoretical and practical skills improvement courses and seminars held by establishments and enterprises under contracts with Lithuanian and foreign higher education institutions;
3. Professional development certificates of public health specialists shall be recognised in accordance with the procedure established by the Ministry of Health.
Article 46. Entry into Force of the Law
This Law, except for Article 47, shall enter into force as of 1 January 2003.
Article 47. Proposals to the Government and Other Institutions
1. By 1 October 2002, the Government shall draft and submit to the Seimas amendments and supplements to the laws related to the implementation of this Law.