REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW ON Environmental Monitoring
20 November 1997 No VIII – 529
(As last amended on 4 May 2006 – No X-595)
Vilnius
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Purpose of the Law
The Law on Environmental Monitoring shall specify the content, structure, implementation of environmental monitoring, the rights and duties as well as responsibility of the entities participating in the process of environmental monitoring.
Article 2. Definitions
1. Environmental monitoring shall mean the systematic observation, evaluation and forecasting of changes in the state of the natural environment and elements thereof and anthropogenic impact.
3. Natural environment shall mean an environment consisting of natural or anthropogenised elements of animate and inanimate nature and functional systems thereof.
4. Municipality environmental monitoring shall mean environmental monitoring at the level of municipalities within the areas assigned to them.
5. Economic entities shall mean natural or legal persons or branches of the legal persons established in the states that have signed the Agreement on the European Economic Area in the Republic of Lithuania, where these branches operate objects of economic activities and carry out the economic activities which affect or may affect the natural environment.
6. Environmental monitoring of economic entities shall mean the environmental monitoring conducted in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts by economic entities at the local level.
Article 3. Tasks of Environmental Monitoring
The fundamental tasks of environmental monitoring shall be to:
1) continuously and systematically observe the state of the natural environment and elements thereof in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania;
2) systematise, evaluate and forecast the spontaneous changes and the changes caused by an anthropogenic impact occurring in the natural environment, tendencies of changes in the natural environment and possible consequences;
3) accumulate, analyse and provide to state institutions and the public information concerning the state of the natural environment required to ensure sustainable development, adopt decisions regarding territorial planning and social development, for scientific and other needs;
Article 4. System of Environmental Monitoring
The system of environmental monitoring shall consist of state, municipal and economic entity environmental monitoring in the course of conducting whereof information shall be accumulated and analysed regarding the state of elements of the natural environment and their changes at the state, municipal and local level.
Article 5. Objects of Environmental Monitoring
In conducting environmental monitoring, the following shall be observed, evaluated and forecasted:
2) the state of the natural and anthropogenically affected natural systems (natural habitats and ecosystems) and the landscape;
3) physical, radiation, chemical, biological and other sources of anthropogenic impact and influence thereof upon the natural environment;
Article 6. Entities of Environmental Monitoring
Entities of environmental monitoring shall be state, municipal and scientific institutions, economic entities, other persons that collect, accumulate and analyse, in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law and other legal acts, data and information regarding the state of natural environment elements.
Article 7. State Environmental Monitoring
1. State environmental monitoring shall be conducted with a view to obtaining the information permitting integral evaluation of natural processes and anthropogenic impact on the natural environment as well as the quality of the natural environment in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, forecasting and management of the state of the natural environment and the impact of economic activities thereon both on the national and international scale. It shall include natural and anthropogenically affected natural systems.
2. State environmental monitoring shall be organised by the Ministry of Environment, it shall be conducted by the Ministry of Environment or the institutions authorised by it, the Ministry of Agriculture or the institutions authorised by it, the State Food and Veterinary Service, other state institutions.
3. State environmental monitoring shall be conducted in accordance with the State Environmental Monitoring Programme. The State Environmental Monitoring Programme shall be drafted by the Ministry of Environment together with other state institutions conducting environmental monitoring. This programme shall be approved by the Government.
4. The content of the State Environmental Monitoring Programme and the procedure for drafting, co-ordinating, implementing it, ensuring the control of state environmental monitoring and providing information shall be established by the Regulations of State Environmental Monitoring. They shall be drafted and approved by the Ministry of Environment.
5. The Ministry of Environment and other state institutions conducting state environmental monitoring shall, within the sphere of their competence:
2) accumulate and store the data of state environmental monitoring, perform a complex analysis thereof, evaluate changes in the natural environment;
3) on the basis of data of state environmental monitoring, specify environmental protection measures and inform the public of the state of the natural environment;
Article 8. Municipal Environmental Monitoring
1. Municipal environmental monitoring shall be conducted with a view to obtaining thorough information concerning the state of the natural environment in the territories of municipalities, planning and implementing local environmental protection measures and assuring the appropriate quality of the natural environment.
2. Municipal environmental monitoring shall be conducted in accordance with a programme for municipal environmental monitoring, which shall be drafted by a municipal executive body. The content of the programme for municipal environmental monitoring and the procedure for drafting, co-ordinating, implementing them, ensuring the control of municipal environmental monitoring and providing information shall be established by the General Regulations of Municipal Environmental Monitoring. These regulations shall be drafted and approved by the Ministry of Environment.
3. A programme for municipal environmental monitoring must be co-ordinated with the Ministry of Environment or an institution authorised by it in accordance with the procedure laid down by the General Regulations of Municipal Environmental Monitoring and approved by a municipal council.
4. In organising and conducting municipal environmental monitoring, municipal institutions must:
1) ensure observations of the state of the natural environment within the territory of a municipality;
Article 9. Environmental Monitoring of Economic Entities
1. Environmental monitoring of economic entities shall be conducted with a view to establishing the quantity of pollutants discharged by sources of pollution of economic entities and the impact of economic activities on the natural environment and ensuring reduction of the pollution caused thereby or another adverse impact.
2. Environmental monitoring of economic entities shall be conducted in accordance with a programme for environmental monitoring of economic entities, which shall be drafted by the economic entities themselves. The content of programmes for environmental monitoring of economic entities and the procedure for drafting, co-ordinating, implementing them, ensuring control and providing information shall be established by the Regulations of Environmental Monitoring of Economic Entities. These regulations shall be drafted and approved by the Ministry of Environment.
Article 10. Control of Environmental Monitoring
1. Conducting of state environmental monitoring, quality of monitoring data, also compliance of applied methods with legal acts shall be controlled, within the sphere of their competence, by the Ministry of Environment and other state institutions conducting state environmental monitoring.
2. Conducting of municipal environmental monitoring, quality of monitoring data, also compliance of applied methods with legal acts shall be controlled by the institutions authorised by the Ministry of Environment.
Article 11. Assuring of the Quality of Environmental Monitoring Research and Data
1. The methods of analysis and measurements applied for the purposes of conducting of environmental research must meet the requirements stipulated in legal acts.
2. The laboratories performing measurements and analysis of the pollutants discharged to the environment by sources of pollution and pollutants in elements of the environment (air, water, soil) must hold authorisations for performance of these measurements and analysis or must be accredited in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts. The procedure for issuing authorisations for performance of measurements and analysis of the pollutants discharged to the environment by sources of pollution and pollutants in elements of the environment shall be laid down by the Ministry of Environment.
3. The quality of analysis and measurements must be assured through introduction of analysis and measurement management systems meeting the requirements set forth by legal acts.
Article 12. Accumulation and Storage of Environmental Monitoring Data and Information
1. State environmental monitoring data and information shall be collected and stored, within the sphere of their competence, by the Ministry of Environment or the institutions authorised by it as well as other state institutions conducting state environmental monitoring or the institutions authorised by them in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Regulations of State Environmental Monitoring.
2. Municipal environmental monitoring data and information shall be collected and stored in accordance with the procedure laid down by the General Regulations of Municipal Environmental Monitoring.
Article 13. Provision of Information on Environmental Monitoring
1. Environmental monitoring data and information shall be provided to states, municipal and scientific institutions and other persons in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws and other legal acts.
Article 14. Financing of Environmental Monitoring
3. The environmental monitoring of economic subjects shall be financed by the economic entities themselves.
Article 15. Liability for Infringement of this Law
Persons in breach of provisions of this Law shall be held liable under law.
Article 16. Resolution of Disputes on the Issues of Environmental Monitoring
Disputes on the issues of environmental monitoring shall be resolved by a court in accordance with the procedure established by the law.
I promulgate this Law passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.