Supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
Expectations of civil society from the new Environmental Protection Act of FBiH presented by Dr.sc. Samir Lemeš president of NGO "Eko forum" Zenica Round table: Results of public debate on the new Law on Environmental Protection of FBiH Sarajevo, 16.9.2015
Expectations of civil society from the new Environmental Protection Act of FBiH
How new Law was prepared? Public consultations in September 2014 Main remarks against the new Law What next?
How new law was prepared?
Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is bicameral legislature of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It consists of the House of Representatives, and the House of Peoples. Following a number of international (mostly EU) funded projects, the draft Environment Protection Act of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was prepared and adopted by House of Representatives on 4.6.2014. In cooperation with Aarhus center Sarajevo, a set of public hearings was organized in September 2014. Deadline for submitting comments was 3.10.2014.
Public consultations in September 2014
Public consultations in September 2014
Public consultations in September 2014
Public debates were organized in four cities: Sarajevo, Mostar, Bihać and Tuzla. The locations were chosen by USAID, who financed the campaign, and we don't know why the most polluted cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina were not chosen for these debates (Zenica, Kakanj, Lukavac). THe 4 debates were attended by 211 participants. The proceedings from the debates are published on the web site of the Aarhus center Sarajevo (www.aarhus.ba). Besides these proceedings, no written responses to other suggestions came from the Ministry until April 2015.
Public consultations in September 2014
Following the elections in October 2014, the new government was established in April 2015. The new minister finaly sent the answers to NGO's who participated in public hearing, but no common document was published in one place. The Law was supposedly adjusted to adopt some of the comments, but the new final text is still not available to the public. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize these comments, and to prepare further actions in order to have the best possible Law.
Main remarks against the new Law
The major concern from the new Law is the one about status of "investigation" or "preparatory" works, for which no environmental permit is necessary. The concerns are even worse having in mind that Federal government already signed an agreement with Dutch company Shell to investigate oil drilling capacities in FBiH.
Main remarks against the new Law
Another major issue is related to public participation, since the new Law excludes public hearings in the renewal of environmental permits. The example of ArcelorMittal Zenica, whose permits already expired, has shown that it is essential to keep public participation in this procedure, because the previous permits did not provide improvements in environmental protection.
Main remarks against the new Law
The major improvement of the Law, advertised by the Ministry was "One request – three permits". That means integration of the permits. Careful reading of the new Law, along with discussion with government officials, revealed that the term "integrated permit" was misused in the new Law. It refers to a "collective permit" for multiple technological parts of the large companies, instead of integration of environmental, water and waste management permits into one, single document.
What next?
The legal procedure means that this new Law is final version, which will be submitted to the House of Peoples of the Federal Parliament. The only instrument remaining are the amendments, which could be suggested to the members of the Parliament. This requires lobbying, and exhaustive consultations of NGO representatives with Parliament members, because in complex political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is very hard to achieve Law ammendments to be adopted, especially if they are not advertised enough.
What next?