National Environmental Legislation – Legislation, Documents, Organizations

The basic legislation on air quality protection according to Act No. 478/2002 Coll. on Air Protection regulates the rights and obligations of legal and natural persons in protecting the air against the introduction of pollutants by human activity and in limiting the causes and mitigating the consequences of air pollution, the objectives in the quality of outdoor air, the competence of state air protection administration bodies and municipalities and liability for breach of obligations in the field of nature protection.

The Act defines basic legal terms such as outdoor air, pollutant, air pollution level, good air quality, ozone precursor, air pollution source operator, emission, agglomeration, etc.

Air protection authorities are:

1. Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic
2. Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic
3. Inspection
4. Regional environmental authorities
5. District environmental offices
6. Municipalities

The Slovak Republic is preparing for the first climate law to bring Slovakia to carbon neutrality in 2023. According to the environment government department, greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture should be reduced by 10 percent by 2030.

The legal regulation of the status, treatment and protection of water in the Slovak Republic is complex and the basic enactment, Act No. 364/2004 Coll. on Water, cannot suffice.

The issue is regulated by a number of related regulations, whether enactments adopted in the Slovak Republic or directives adopted at the EC level.

The Water Act creates conditions for the all-round protection, preservation or improvement of the status of water, its efficient, economic and sustainable use, as well as conditions for improving the quality of the environment, reducing the adverse effects of floods and droughts and ensuring the functions of watercourses and the safety of water structures through river basin management. It regulates the rights and obligations of natural and legal persons in relation to water and water-related real estate for their protection, efficient and economical use, the powers and duties of state water administration bodies and liability for breach of duty. For the purposes of practice, the law defines basic concepts, which thus become legal definitions.

The Water Act applies to natural medicinal resources, natural mineral table water resources and special waters only under delegated powers. In relation to the regulation of mining waters, the Water Act is a general precept of law for the special enactment.

The state water administration authorities are:

• Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic
• Regional environmental authorities
• District environmental offices
• Inspection
• Municipalities

Agricultural land is defined as a potentially productive land registered in the land register as arable land, hops, vineyards, orchards, gardens, and permanent grassland.

The most important precept of law concerning the care of agricultural land is Act No. 220/2004 Coll. on the protection and use of agricultural land. It is designed to protect the characteristics and functions of agricultural land and ensures its sustainable management and agricultural use, the protection of the environmental functions of agricultural land (production of biomass, filtration, neutralization and transformation of substances in nature, maintenance of the ecological and genetic potential of living organisms in nature) and the protection of the area of agricultural land against unauthorized seizures for non-agricultural use.

The aim of the legal regulation is the sustainable use of agricultural land, i.e. the protection of its characteristics and functions in such a way and to such an extent as to preserve its biodiversity, fertility, capacity for regeneration, and ability to fulfil all its functions.

The authorities responsible for the protection of agricultural land are:

• Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic
• Slovak Land Fund

Nature and landscape protection is generally dealt with in Act No. 543/2002 Coll. on Nature and Landscape Protection with the aim of contributing to the preservation of the diversity of life on Earth, creating conditions for the permanent maintenance, restoration and rational use of natural resources, the preservation of natural heritage, the characteristic appearance of the landscape, and the achievement and maintenance of ecological stability.

According to this Act, nature and landscape protection means limiting interventions which may endanger, damage or destroy the conditions and forms of life, natural heritage, and appearance of the landscape, reduce its ecological stability, as well as the eliminating the consequences of such interventions. Nature conservation also includes the care of ecosystems.

• The nature conservation authorities and nature guards are:
• Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic
• Slovak Environmental Inspectorate
• Regional environmental authorities
• District environmental offices
• Municipalities
• State Veterinary and Food Administration
• State Nature Conservancy

The Regional Territorial System of Ecological Stability (hereinafter referred to as RTSES) is a document designed to ensure the territorial system of ecological stability and to protect the diversity of conditions and forms of life in a particular region. It is a nature and landscape protection document.

The RTSES is also elaborated for the Liptovský Mikuláš district. It is aimed at promoting the protection of NATURA 2000 sites by incorporating them into the spatial ecological stability system.

The content of the RTSES document is laid down by Decree No. 158/2014 Coll. of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic (Annex No. 23 to Decree No. 24/2003 Coll.).