After analyzing the proposed amendments to the Ordinance on the type, amount and procedure for imposing sanctions in case of damage or pollution of the environment above the permissible standards and/or in case of non-compliance with the specified emission standards and restrictions, the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (KRIB) found an unjustified drastic increase in the unit amounts of sanctions. In some cases, the expected increase is from 2.4 times - in case of pollution of surface waters and water bodies, soil damage, etc., to from 5 to 1000 times - in case of atmospheric air pollution. According to the draft of the Ordinance, the new single sanctions have been increased several times, compared to the current ones, without a clear logic and in the absence of objective reasoning regarding the choice of the specific increase. In this regard, KRIB strongly disagrees with the proposed increase in the unit amounts of sanctions. We believe that the envisaged changes do not take into account the current state of the Bulgarian economy in the conditions of a progressive and deepening economic crisis and, if adopted, will significantly worsen the competitiveness of Bulgarian enterprises. The projected growth of some of the sanctions will certainly lead to the bankruptcy of many industrial enterprises and, in our opinion, the extremely negative final effect that the projected increases in the sanctions will have on the Bulgarian industry is not taken into account. The unreasonably high amount of the fines suggests that only budgetary and not environmental goals are being pursued, which is the meaning of the environmental legislation.
According to KRIB, the envisaged changes make preventive control over environmental pollution meaningless, relying entirely on the increase in the amount of sanctions as a motivating factor for compliance with environmental legislation. Such an approach would not achieve the ultimate goal - environmental protection, but would have an extremely negative effect on Bulgarian industry and the Bulgarian economy.
According to KRIB, the amount of the fine must be proportional to the amount of the damage and the means to prevent it or eliminate the consequences. In this sense, it is realistic that this Ordinance be tied to Ordinance No. 1 on the type of preventive and remedial measures in the cases provided for by the Law on Responsibility for the Prevention and Remediation of Environmental Damage and on the minimum amount of costs for their implementation, as far as they relate to one and same subject.
In this regard, KRIB offers the following:
1. To carry out assessments of the effect of the impact on the environment, and not of the impact itself, and on this basis to justify the proposed single fines.
2. In order to ensure that the control body is not financially interested in the imposition of more sanctions, as is the practice of reporting fines collected and not environmental results achieved by the RISW, to provide for an additional sanctioning mechanism, we propose that for the first violation the measure be a prescription to invest an amount equal to the assessed damage in specific measures aimed at stopping/preventing the pollution.
This is a reference to the same Ordinance No. 1 on the type of preventive and remedial measures in the cases provided for by the Law on responsibility for the prevention and removal of environmental damage and on the minimum amount of costs for their implementation, which regulates preventive and remedial measures.
In this way, funds that would otherwise go to the budget and are unlikely to be reinvested in achieving environmental goals will be targeted for damage-specific measures.
3. Some of the planned increases in the amount of the sanction many times exceed the inflation accumulated over the years in the Republic of Bulgaria. The practical application of the "polluter pays" principle can be realized by determining an adequate and motivating amount of the sanctions, excluding an increase in an amount that would prove to be unbearable for the still operating enterprises. In this regard, we propose to add the text of Art. 18, para. 1 of the currently effective regulation "If the persons sanctioned under the regulation take actions to achieve the established norms in accordance with investment programs approved by the Minister of Environment and Water, they shall pay 10 percent of the due sanctions".
This will give an opportunity to stimulate the operators regarding the introduction of new technologies and equipment, guaranteeing compliance with the emission limits, without the imposed penalty leading to a significant additional increase in the costs for this.
4. В Art. 14. paragraph 1 Original text: "A sanctioned person who stopped or reduced the damage or pollution of the environment and/or non-compliance with the specified emission norms and restrictions, may submit a reasoned request for cancellation or reduction of the sanction to the authority that issued the penal decree"
we suggest replacing it with the text:
- "1. In the case of a current sanction, a sanctioned person, who stopped or reduced the damage or pollution of the environment and/or non-compliance with the specified emission standards and restrictions, may submit a reasoned request for cancellation or reduction of the sanction to the authority that issued the penalty decree."
– "2. In the case of conditions for the imposition of a one-time sanction, the person subject to this sanction may request a reduction or cancellation in accordance with the meaning of Article 18 in the proposed draft Ordinance."
5. In Art. 19, para. 2 to indicate according to which regulation the category of the water intake is determined.
In Art. 19, para. 12, item 1 to specify which belts of the sanitary protection zone around the water sources are concerned or for all belts.
6. We propose the separation of BOD5 into a separate line and its mandatory need to be included in every inspection regarding the condition of discharged wastewater. In the regulation, it is necessary to consider the cases when there is a situation of reconstruction, modernization or repair of an enterprise or treatment plant.
In conclusion, we are categorically against the unjustified increase in the amount of sanctions in case of damage or pollution of the environment above the permissible norms and/or in case of non-compliance with the specified emission norms provided for in the draft of the new Ordinance, and the proposed draft should be carefully reviewed by the respected from us Ministry of Environment and Water.
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