krzysztof wójcik – regional inspectorate for environmental protection in lodz malta 2013 – 1...
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A POLISH SYSTEM FOR SUSPENSION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PENALTIES AS A
MECHANISM PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS
Krzysztof Wójcik – Regional Inspectorate for Environmental Protection in Lodz
Malta 2013 – 1 – 4 October
ENVIRONMENTAL PENALTIES IN POLAND Fines (given by environmental
inspectors) -maximum of about 250 euro or 1250 euro if imposed by a court;
Financial administrative penalties (imposed by regional inspectorates) – even several thousands of euro;
Other administrative penalties (such as halting of installations imposed by
regional inspectorates).
ENVIRONMENTAL PENALTIES IN POLAND Fines: minor infringements of
environmental law; Imposed by an inspector or by a court; If imposed by an inspector – no
possibility of avoidance.
ENVIRONMENTAL PENALTIES IN POLAND Other administrative penalties – halting
of an installation; Serious infringements, e.g.:- operating without an environmental
permit,- operating that causes a threat to the
environment or human health.
ENVIRONMENTAL PENALTIES IN POLAND Financial administrative penalties; Generally - imposed for excessive
emissions (than emission limit values stated in environmental permits);
Obligatory (an inspectorate has no possibility to dissent from them);
Administrative procedure – possible appeal from a decision of a regional inspectorate to the Chief Inspectorate and even to an administrative court;
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES - EXAMPLES Suppose that ELV for emission of dust is
88 kg/ hour; An installation emits 100 kg/hour which
is confirmed by monitoring; They emit 12 kg over the limit and
operate all day for about 220 days per year;
It means they have to pay 0,14 euro x 12 kg x 220 which is 369 euro per year.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES - EXAMPLESEmission of noise above 6 decibels of the Polish standard during nights means that an operator is to pay about 35 euro per day – if it operates 200 working days per year, the penalty reaches 7 000 euro.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES - EXAMPLES There were huge penalties imposed in
the 90’s and at the beginning of XXI century on sewage treatment plants that were suspended and not payed at all (even several hundreds of euro).
This is because of a suspension mechanism in the Polish environmental law.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES - SUSPENSION If an operator apply to its regional
inspectorate with an application in which he/she obliges himself/herself to modernise the installation in such a way it will no longer break the emission limit values, payment of the penalty will be suspended for a maximum period of 5 years.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES - SUSPENSION After that period, if standards are not
broken, the penalty is lowered by deduction from its total amount the amount of money spent for modernisation. It also means that there might be no penalty at all – if the amount of money spent for modernisation is higher than the amount of penalty.
If an operator does not realise modernisation on time, he/she has to pay the total amount of the penalty + official interest rates.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES - SUMMARY In 2012:- Regional Inspectorate for Environmental
Protection in Lodz imposed 104 financial penalties of the total amount about 833 000 euro;
- 6 penalties were suspended of the total amount 592 000 euro – most of the sum for one sewage treatment plant in a city of Piotrkow.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES - SUMMARY Is the system fair? One of comments heard in a radio: „they
polluted heavily and they will pay nothing”;
It promotes environmental investment – all in all the target is to be in line with ELVs;
The money from penalties are redistributed for accounts of Polish funds of environmental protection and water management and thanks to it even a single home owner may buy solar pannels for its house.
