Country profile – Slovak Republic
Vlasta Janova
1. National pollution prevention policy and company practices
Implementation of the IPPC Directive has been realized by the Act No. 245/2003 on IPPC
(valid since 19 June 2003). In frame of this Act, the Information system of the IPPC was
established, and it contains information about:
a) register of operators and facilities arising under the IPPC
b) register of issued integrated licenses
c) emissions and monitoring results yearly reported by operators
d) standards of life quality in Slovak Republic
e) BAT for each industrial branch and type of facility
f) register of licensed persons.
2. National programme on contaminated lands does not exist up till now. It has been
incorporated into a proposal of the Act on environmental burden (e.g. contaminated sites),
which is just in process of preparation.
a)
In case that old landfills are the source of contamination, these sites fall
under the rule of the Programme of waste management. Database of old
landfills is available – it contains information about 8300 localities. Of
course, only some of them can be defined as sources of contamination.
b)
NEAP II – National Environmental Operational Plan – involves specific
projects on elimination of environmental burden.
3. Data acquisition:
a) Integration of existing databases has not been realized up till now. The unified
database should be established at least in March 2004. Its proposal was agreed
by the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic in October 2003. Just
now it is tested in the area of Piestany county.
b) Monitoring networks:
- monitoring of the most important mining localities (20 localities),
- monitoring of selected old landfills with hazardous waste,
- monitoring of all sludge
- monitoring of buried anthropogenetic sediments (usually old covered
landfills),
- monitoring of agricultural soils,
- monitoring of waters and the others.
c) New field campaign:
- There is a great need for a new field campaign because of lack of
information about industrial facilities, pollution from railways, army,
agriculture, old gasoline stations a the others.
- Partly the new inventory will be realized through all projects focusing to
engineering-geological and environmental mapping supported by the
Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic.
4. Database management is governed by the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak
Republic and also by the Geological Survey of the Slovak Republic. New structure of
national inventory has been proposed. Inventory list consists of:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
general information about locality
information about property
information about activity
characteristic of geomorphology, geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, biology
characteristic of sources of contamination (facility)
contaminated soils
contaminated groundwater
risk assessment.
The new inventory list is just tested in field and the results will be available in January 2004.
5. Classification and assessment system for ranking priorities of decontamination actions:
a) system for preliminary and final prioritisation has been proposed,
b) goal of preliminary prioritisation is: to indicate the localities where is the need for
detailed investigation,
c) final prioritisation is based on risk assessment techniques,
d) classification and assessment system is just tested.
6. Risk assessment instruments at site-level, or above…
7. Other decision-making mechanisms ruling the decontamination actions:
a) Decontamination from old landfills is supported by the Environmental Fund.
Decision-making mechanism is based on strict criteria. Responsibility for
contaminated sites elimination is ruled by the Programme of waste management.
b) Decontamination of other contaminated sites will be realized according being
prepared Integrated programme of environmental burden elimination.
c) Public participation in this process is defined in Act on waste and will be defined
in prepared Act on environmental burden. According existing legislation, executive
administration is obligatory to access the proposals of Programmes of waste
management in public place for 30 days. Public can annotate the Programmes
and suggestions have to be considered.
8. Financial funding mechanisms:
Up till now, the inventory of contaminated sites has been covered by the Ministry of the
Environment of the Slovak Republic, Division of Geology and Natural Resources, e.g. from
central budget.
The plan is to realize new inventory throughout relevant sectors. The financial funding
mechanism of decontamination actions has not been created till now. Some actions are
financed from central budget, some from the Environmental Fund.
In draft of the Act on environmental burden is proposed to finance decontamination
throughout relevant sectors, e.g. industrial contamination by the Ministry of Economy,
agricultural contamination by the Ministry of the Agriculture, etc.
9. ???
10. Legislation on soil protection:
 Act No. 17/1992 Coll. on Environment as amended by the Act No. 127/1994
Coll., Act No. 2871994 Coll., Act No. 171/1998 Coll. And Act No. 211/2000
Coll.
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Act No. 184/2002 Coll. on Water (The Water Act) and on Amendments of
Certain Acts.
Decree No. 556/2002 Coll. of the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak
Republic on Implementing Certain Provisions of the Act on Water.
Act No. 223/2001 Coll. on Waste and on Amendments of Certain Acts as
amended by Act No. 553/2001 Coll.
Act No. 543/2002 Coll. on Nature and Landscape Protection.
Act No. 245/2003 Col. on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control.
Act No. 307/ 1992 Coll. on Agricultural Soils Protection.
Definitions suggested in proposal of Act on environmental burden:
- Soil – incoherent or partly coherent upper part of rock environment. For
the purpose of this Act, as soils we understand gravels, sands, loams,
clays and similar sediments, which can be quarried from the surface.
- Contaminated soil – soil, which quality is degraded to the level, when
negative influence on human health or on individual components of the
environment cannot be excluded.
- Contaminated site – space, where the criteria of contamination are
exceeded.
11. Specific legislation on soil contamination - in process of preparation. It will include quality
standards, intervention and indication limits and natural background values.
12. National strategy concerning diffuse source pollution and immission - in process of
preparation.
13. Monitoring system of soil quality – there is only monitoring of agricultural soil available –
637 measuring point all over the Slovak Republic.
14. Regulations on liability and sanctions of soil pollution:
 Act No. 184/2002 Coll. on Water (The Water Act) and on Amendments of
Certain Acts.
 Act No. 307/ 1992 Coll. on Agricultural Soils Protection.
 Act No. 223/2001 Coll. on Waste and on Amendments of Certain Acts as
amended by Act No. 553/2001 Coll.
 Proposal of Act on environmental burden.
 Act No. 17/1992 Coll. on Environment as amended by the Act No. 127/1994
Coll., Act No. 2871994 Coll., Act No. 171/1998 Coll. And Act No. 211/2000
Coll.
 Criminal code.
15. Decree No. 55/2001 on land use planning does not consider contaminated lands.
Generally, land use planning documentation should include results of investigations and
analyses of the environment. Some of them, e.g. land use planning documentation of
Bratislava region includes – gradual elimination of illegal landfills and other old
environmental burden.
16. Control of the transfer of the land does not require assessment of the contamination
associated with the property. Two acts require assessment of past contamination:
Privatisation Act - requires that during process of privatisation of state owned enterprises
assessment of environmental debt is performed. Ministries of Environment and Economy
issued a guidance for such an assessment. Within a broader assessment (compliance with
legislation in water, waste management, air polution control etc.) also historical
contamination is to be assessed. For such an assessement the guidance provides
contamination criteria (A,B,C limits). The Act itself does not specify further steps leading to
remediation.
Bankrupcy Act 328/1991 – the act requires bunkrupt to assess besides other debts also
damages to environment.