Commission Report (2002): Latvia

• Progress since the last Regular Report
• Overall assessment
• Conclusions

Chapter 22: Environment

Progress since the last Regular Report

Latvia has continued to make good progress in alignment with the acquis, in particular in relation to water quality, waste management, nature protection, and noise. Concerning administrative capacity, attention has been devoted to implementation issues and institutional strengthening. A new Nature Protection Board has been created.

With regard to the integration of environment into other policies, Latvia continued to implement the action programme for sustainable development adopted by all Baltic Sea countries within the framework of ``Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea region`. A Council for sustainable development was established in March 2002, chaired by the Prime Minister. Environmental issues have been included in strategic documents of other sectors (such as agriculture, energy and fisheries).

As regards access to information under horizontal legislation, the law on environmental protection was amended in December 2001. The Aarhus Convention was ratified by Parliament in April 2002. With regard to environmental impact assessment, during 2001 8 Environmental Impact Assessments were performed and 10 are ongoing. Concerning climate change, the third national communication under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was approved in November 2001 and the Parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol in June 2002. The Strategy for Sustainable Development (based on the Rio Declaration) was adopted in August 2002.

Regarding air quality, amendments were adopted to the existing Regulations on volatile organic compound emissions from storage and distribution of petrol in January 2002. In July 2002 amendments were adopted to the Law on air quality as regards benzene and carbon monoxide. Also in July 2002, amendments were adopted to the Regulation on conformity assessment of petrol and diesel fuel. In addition, legislation was adopted in June 2002 on fuel quality. Improvements have been made in terms of procurement of new equipment within institutions and monitoring stations have been established.

Since the last Regular Report, legislation has been adopted in the field of waste management as regards waste framework Directives, landfill of waste, packaging and packaging waste, disposal of waste oils, PCB/PCT and batteries and accumulators. Progress regarding establishment of new landfills and closure of the existing landfills has continued, bringing the number of landfills down to 252 (from 500). There has also been progress as regards enhancing the collection and recovery of waste and as regards preparations to overhaul the permitting system. The National Waste Management Plan was adopted in August 2002. In addition, rules regarding the temporary storage of hazardous waste and requirements concerning packaging waste have been adopted in July 2002.

Concerning water quality, Latvia has adopted legislation on urban waste water treatment, nitrate pollution, discharges of dangerous substances, groundwater, surface water for drinking water abstraction, bathing water, fish life and drinking water. On implementation, the development of action programmes for vulnerable zones was started in April 2002. Legislation adopted in January 2002 identifies the entire territory of Latvia as a sensitive area as defined by the urban wastewater Directive. Latvia has also established a preliminary list of possible sources of emissions of the so-called List I and II substances under the Dangerous Substances Directive and its daughter directives.

In the nature protection sector, amendments were adopted as regards the relevant law on birds and habitats. In May 2002, legislation was adopted setting the criteria for establishing protected nature territories. There was progress with site selection. The new State Environmental Monitoring Programme, including a comprehensive chapter on the monitoring of biological diversity, was also adopted in May 2002. As regards enforcement, a Nature Protection Board, responsible for the implementation of the nature protection legislation, was created and started operations in May 2002.

In the field of industrial pollution control and risk management, an integrated permitting system concerning integrated pollution prevention and control was introduced in January 2002. So far, one integrated permit has been issued. Legislation aiming at alignment with the aquis on VOC emissions from solvents, limiting values for benzene and carbon monoxide in ambient air, was adopted in July 2002, and the new acquis on Large Combustion Plants was adopted in August 2002. The State Environmental Inspection was strengthened with the establishment as of January 2002 of a new division with five employees working specifically on integrated pollution prevention and control and major accident hazards installations.

In the area of genetically modified organisms and chemicals, new legislation was adopted in October 2001 on asbestos as well as on animal welfare. Amendments to the Regulation on the protection of the ozone layer were adopted in January 2002. In August 2002, the government adopted a regulation on procedures for notification and environmental and human health risk assessment of new chemical substances. Resources at policy level as well as the established institutions seem largely adequate. co-ordination and co-operation are being improved. However, as regards contained use of genetically modified organisms, there appears to be a shortage of resources.

In the field of noise, new legislation was adopted in early 2002 addressing airborne noise emissions from household appliances as well as noise from equipment used outdoors. With a view to strengthening administrative capacity, the Consumer Rights Protection Centre is now the competent authority for noise emitted by household appliances. In the area of noise from equipment used outdoors, the competence is however divided among various institutions.

In the area of nuclear safety and radiation protection, implementing regulations have been adopted (see also Chapter 14 -- Energy) regarding procedures for control and accounting of exposure of workers as well as subsequent pieces of legislation in the field of medical contradictions to ionising radiation exposure. Further legislation was adopted in relation to the requirements for practices involving radioactive waste and related materials, accountancy and control of nuclear materials, and the criteria and principles for establishment of equivalence for radioactive waste. The Radiation Safety Centre has continued training of staff on nuclear safety issues.

Latvia has carried out a number of activities (additional staff and training) to strengthen the administrative capacity and improve co-ordination of the environmental bodies responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the acquis at central and regional level. The Sustainable Development Council was established in March 2002 and the Nature Protection Board started to operate in May 2002. Latvia has also paid particular attention to the strengthening of the inspection system. During the reporting period training programmes have continued; they have mainly focused on horizontal legislation and inspectors of the Regional Environmental Boards, air quality, waste management, nature protection and nuclear safety and radiation protection.

As regards issuing of permits, the system is at present media-based, but is being overhauled. Public participation in the environmental impact assessment process, elaboration of new legislation and issuing of integrated permits is constantly increasing. In June 2002, legislation on all permits regarding waste management, including hazardous waste, was adopted and particular progress was made on industrial pollution control. Regarding enforcement, monitoring programmes have been prepared in some areas, including nature protection.

Overall assessment

Considerable alignment has been achieved with the EC environmental acquis. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified. Work is still needed to adopt legislation in order to complete transposition in the fields of air quality (including the Directive on the sulphur content of liquid fuels ), waste management (end-of-life-vehicles), nature protection, water quality (water management Law, drinking water), chemicals and genetically modified organisms and nuclear safety and radiation protection (basic safety standards). Close attention should be paid to the implementation of the acquis with regard to waste management (permitting, including permitting of temporary storage of hazardous waste), air quality (ambient air quality programme), water quality (designation of vulnerable zones and preparation of action plans, review of permits), industrial pollution control (issuing of integrated permits) and chemicals (administrative capacity).

The principle of integration requires continuous attention both at national and at Community level. While Latvia is already implementing an Action Plan for Sustainable Development in the Baltic Sea, it needs to continue integrating environmental protection requirements into the definition and implementation of all other sectoral policies so as to promote sustainable development.

Latvia`s administrative capacity to implement the acquis still requires attention. While generally co-ordination between the different institutions and bodies has improved, co-ordination and co-operation between the environmental bodies and the other government departments has to be improved significantly. Strengthening of all environment bodies, in particular the Latvian Environment Agency and Regional Environmental Boards are essential, including further clarification of roles and responsibilities. Staff resources remain limited and awareness of the requirements of EC environmental rules need to be further improved. Further training on EC environmental policy is still necessary. Particularly in the industrial pollution sector, there is a need to improve the distinctions between permitting, compliance, verification and enforcement within the Regional Environmental Boards. Appeal mechanisms should be strengthened and made more effective. Particular attention should be paid to establishment of more effective structures at the local level in terms of the high number of entities presently responsible for municipal waste and local protected areas.

Monitoring and reporting systems are being strengthened, but further efforts are needed to strengthen the co-ordination and communication capacity, notably of the Latvian Environment Agency. As regards planning and programming, it is important to strengthen the capacity at regional and local level and speed up preparations for EC environmental policy. This is vital to ensure that Latvia has the necessary programming capacity at accession. Latvia still needs to reinforce its monitoring capacity further. Progress has been achieved in the field of nature protection, air and water, but monitoring infrastructure and equipment still need to be upgraded and modernised. The co-ordination of monitoring and reporting procedures also needs further improvement and more efficient use should be made of monitoring data when issuing permits and carrying out inspections. Particular attention should be paid to improving the waste monitoring system. Finally, more human resources should be devoted to co-operation and support of private enterprises.

While the number of inspections has increased, they still focus on large installations, and small and medium-sized installations escape controls. In addition, inspections still need to adopt an integrated approach, and co-ordination between monitoring and inspection must be improved. Legislation on inspections and inspectors remains to be clarified as some areas partly use managed regulations as well as administrative instruments. Laboratories and equipment should also be improved further. As there is so far little practical experience with enforcement mechanisms, significant efforts remain to be made to ensure the enforcement of the environmental acquis in Latvia. In this context, fines are an effective source of revenue and provide an incentive for operators to agree on improvement programmes with the environmental authorities. Considerable investments need to be secured, also in the medium-term, to ensure the implementation of the environment acquis. However, Latvia needs to step up its efforts to establish comprehensive investment strategies, which would improve investment efficiency by focusing the available resources on implementing the requirements of the acquis.

Conclusions

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that with the current pattern and speed of reforms in Latvia, full transposition of the environmental acquis should be achieved in the medium term. However, effective compliance with a number of pieces of legislation (e.g. urban waste treatment, drinking water, aspects of waste management and air pollution legislation) could be achieved only in the long term and would require a significant increase in environmental investment, as well as a major effort to reinforce the administrative capacity.

Since the Opinion, Latvia has achieved considerable progress in aligning with the EC environmental acquis, in particular over the past two years, and, more recently, has progressed in developing the necessary administrative capacity to implement the acquis in this area.

Negotiations on this chapter have been provisionally closed. Latvia has been granted transitional arrangements with regard to volatile organic compound emissions from storage and distribution of petrol (end 2008), packaging and packaging waste (end 2007), temporary storage of hazardous waste as regards landfill of waste (end 2004), urban waste water treatment (end 2015), drinking water (end 2015), existing integrated pollution prevention and control installations (end 2010), asbestos (end 2004), and ionising radiation from medical equipment (end 2005). Latvia is generally meeting the commitments it has made in the accession negotiations in this field.

In order to complete preparations for membership, Latvia`s efforts now need to focus on finalising transposition (air quality; nature protection; waste management; water quality; chemicals and genetically modified organisms and nuclear safety and radiation protection), improving co-ordination and co-operation between national, regional and local levels and strengthening the overall administrative capacity.

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