Water quality
Air quality
Waste management
Industrial pollution
Radiation safety
Chemical substances and products
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and environmental information
Economic instruments for environmental policy
Nature protection
Noise
Water quality
As for all EU water sector legislation adopted before 2000, it
is planned to complete the transposition process by 1 January
2003. Regarding the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, adoption
of relevant laws and regulations will be completed by December
2003: this date corresponds with that provided in the directive.
The requirements of Latvian water protection legislation are being
harmonised also with the provisions of the Directive 96/61/EC On
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control.
In order to implement the requirements of Nitrates Directive
91/676/EEC, the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations On the Protection
of Water and Soil Against Pollution Caused by Nitrates from
Agricultural Sources was adopted.
The Cabinet of Ministers Regulations On Water Emissions of
Pollutants was adopted, which combine the requirements of the
Dangerous substances Directive 76/464/EEC, and its daughter
directives, as well as those of the Groundwater Directive 80/68/EEC
and the Urban Wastewater Directive 91/271/EEC. Full transposition
of the above-mentioned Directives has been achieved.
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Air quality
In order to transpose the Air Quality daughter
Directive 2000/69/EC in relation to limit values for benzene and
carbon monoxide in ambient air, the draft Amendments to the Cabinet
of Ministers Regulations On Air Quality have been elaborated.
Implementation of the Directive 2000/69/EC will not present serious
difficulties.
Several another important Cabinet of Ministers
Regulations have been adopted, like On Assessment, Prevention,
Restriction and Control of Emissions of Air Pollutants from
Stationary Sources, On Conformity Assessment of Petrol and Diesel
Fuel.
The Third National Communication of the Republic of
Latvia under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change was adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers in November 2001.
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Waste management
Further alignment with the acquis was achieved in
the field of waste management, with the adoption of the Waste
Management Law in December 2000. From 1 January 2003, the Latvian
system of waste statistics will be in full compliance with the EU
requirements.
The regulations issued previously under the laws On
Municipal Waste and On Hazardous Waste are being gradually replaced
by the new legislation, while waste management permits issued under
these laws will be in force until the date of validity.
The draft regulations on the procedure for
identification, storage, registration, marking and tracking of
hazardous waste (91/689/EEC) have been elaborated.
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Industrial pollution
With the entry into force of the Law on Pollution in
July 2001, progress was made in the area of industrial pollution
control and risk management. The law requires public consultation
before IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention Control) permits and permits for waste incineration are issued,
sets basic principles for pollution prevention and control, and
gives emission limit values and environmental quality standards in
the water sector.
The Cabinet of Ministers Regulations On Procedures
for Industrial Accident Risk Assessment and Risk Reduction Measures,
which fully transpose Directive 96/82/EC (Seveso II), came in force
in July 2001.
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Radiation safety
A new law On Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety
came into force in November 2000. In accordance with the law, a new
Radiation Safety Centre was established. Based on this law, a number
of Cabinet of Ministers Regulations were adopted.
In June 2001, Protocol To Amend The Vienna
Convention On Civil Liability For Nuclear Damage was approved by
Saeima.
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Chemical substances and products
Amendments to the law On Chemical Substances and
Chemical Products, transposing the requirements of the latest EU
directives in the area of chemicals, came into force in January
2001.
Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers On
Restrictions and Prohibitions on the Use and Marketing of Dangerous
Chemical Products provide for restricted use and placing on the
market of all types of asbestos, starting from 1 January 2001. The
use of already existing asbestos-containing products however is not
limited. The remaining issues of the Directive 87/217/EEC have been
transposed into Latvian legislation by adopting the Cabinet of
Ministers Regulations On Pollution Caused by Asbestos.
The Latvian Environment Agency was formed, within
which the Department of Supervision of Chemical Substances and
Chemical Products was created in January 2000. This department is
responsible for the development and management of a register on
chemical substances, which is now available on internet: http://www.vdc.lv/chemical/start.htm
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Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and environmental information
Latvia adopted the Law On Environmental Impact
Assessment in October 1998. Amendments to the Law, transposing the
remaining requirements regarding transboundary issues of EIA, was
adopted by the Parliament in May 2001. Consequently, the EU
Directive on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Public and
Private Projects on the Environment (85/337/EEC and 97/11/EC) became
fully transposed.
The provisions of the Directive On the Freedom of
Access to Information on the Environment, 90/313/EEC have fully been
adopted in Latvian law through amendments to the Law On
Environmental Protection which were adopted by the Parliament on 20
June 2000.
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Economic instruments for environmental policy
In 2000 and 2001, several important legislation acts
regarding economic instruments was developed and approved, among
them the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations On Procedure for
Implementation of Standards of the Law On Natural Resources Tax, the
Cabinet of Ministers Regulations On Procedure for Natural Resource
Tax Exemptions and Discounts for Enterprises Voluntarily Involved in
Used Packaging Material Management Programmes, Amendments to the Law
On Natural Resources Tax.
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Nature protection
In order to comply with the requirements of EC
directives in the field of nature protection, the many national
legislation acts were elaborated and accepted in the time period
from 1 December 2000 to 1 December 2001. By the end of 2001, the
majority of norms from the Birds and Habitats Directives have been
transposed.
In order to implement the Law on the Protection of
Species and Habitats several Regulations of Cabinet of Ministers
have been accepted, among them the Lists of Specially Protected and
Limited Exploitable Specially Protected Species, the Lists of
Specially Protected Habitats, the Regulations On the Establishment,
Protection and Management of Micro-reserves.
In order to implement the Law on Specially Protected
Nature Territories, such additional Cabinet of Ministers Regulations
have been accepted as On the Protected Dendrological Plantations, On
the Protected Geological and Geomorphological Nature Monuments, as
well as several regulations on certain specially protected nature
territories.
In order to implement the Law on the Animal
Protection, the following Cabinet of Ministers Regulations have been
accepted: On the Order of Issuing Permits for Introduction,
Reintroduction and Capturing of Individuals of Non-game Species, On
the Requirements for Keeping Wild Animals in Zoos and Establishment
of the Collections of Wild Animals transposing the directive
1999/22/EC relating to the keeping of wild animals in zoos.
Work has begun on the development of a network of
protected territories of European importance (Natura 2000), which
will allow the protected territory network in Latvia to comply with
the demands of the European Union to improve species and habitat
protection in the country.
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Noise
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and
Regional Development is working in close co-operation with the
Latvian Acoustics Association on elaboration of national legal
acts, fully transposing EU directives.
The Cabinet of Ministers Regulations On Labels
Indicating Airborne Noise Emissions from Household Appliances
adopted on 29/01/2002 has transposed directive 86/594/EEC On
Airborne Noise Emitted by Household Appliances.
Directive 2000/14/EC On the Noise Emission in
the Environment by Equipment for Use Outdoors will be transposed
by Cabinet of Ministers Regulations On Noise from Equipment Used
Outdoors.
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