site.btaParliament Passes Amendments to Clean Ambient Air Act

Parliament passed amendments to the Clean Ambient Air Act, proposed by the Council of Ministers, on second reading here on Thursday. The bill removes the requirement for citizens and businesses to present paper copies of documents that can be verified in public registers, including payment documents for electronic payments.  It also provides for expanding the powers of control authorities and introducing sanctions that were previously absent from the law, according to the report of the Environment Committee. 

Among the amendments passed by MPs are: 

• When designing, constructing, and operating facilities of sites with sources of emissions, the Minister of Environment and Water, the regional environment and water inspectorate directors, and officials authorised by them in exercising control may order the withdrawal of the product. 
• In exercising control over compliance with the requirements, officials are entitled to free access to the inspected sites and to impose fines and property sanctions on individuals/economic operators who do not comply. If, during market surveillance, non-compliance of products covered by the regulation is found, officials shall require the respective economic operator to reimburse the total costs of their activities, in accordance with EU regulation. Officials, for their part, are obliged not to disclose information constituting production or trade secrets learned in connection with their control duties.
• In cases of failure to comply with a mandatory order or repeated violation, solid fuels subject to the violation, regardless of ownership, are confiscated for the benefit of the State. Confiscated solid fuels may be provided free of charge or delivered for destruction.
• Any person or economic entity who fails to submit documents, technical specifications, data, or information within the prescribed period under the regulation shall be fined between BGN 500 and BGN 2000 or sanctioned with a property sanction between BGN 1000 and BGN 3000, Parliament decided.

Deputy Minister of Environment Reneta Koleva explained that citizens and legal entities can appeal all administrative acts that directly affect them unless a special law excludes judicial appeal. She stressed that the air quality legislation contains no provisions prohibiting the appeal of programs aimed at the annual reduction of excessive pollution.