New amendment to the Act of 3 October 2008 on providing information on the environment and environmental protection, public participation in the environmental protection and environment impact assessments, adopted by the Parliament last year, will come into force and effect on 1 January 2017. The amendment provides for financial penalties imposed upon an investor for non-compliance with the environmental permit conditions. Introduction of stricter regulations results from the obligation to implement EU regulations into the Polish legal system.
Never before have the administrative bodies been allowed to impose financial penalties for violating the requirements of decisions on environmental conditions. As of next year, regional environmental protection inspectors will be authorized to impose administrative penalties upon investors in the range from PLN 500 up to PLN 1,000,000.
The amendment will apply to investments in progress and those already completed, which means a breach of conditions, requirements or obligations set out in the environmental permit must pertain to implementation, operation or closure of a given investment. If an investor, for whom an environmental permit has been issued, shall not commence the investment process, the authorities will not be authorized to impose a penalty.
The only criterion binding upon the penalty imposing authority when determining the penalty amount shall be the number of the violations found and their seriousness. The fact that the penalty amount is at the discretion of an administrative authority can lead to arbitrary decisions with respect to imposed penalties.
A penalty decision can be appealed against by an appeal lodged with the Chief Environmental Protection Inspector. An investor charged with a financial penalty will be obliged to pay it within 7 days as of the day such a decision has become final.
The amendment also introduces other changes, most importantly the obligation of having respective documentation, including forecasts of environmental impact and reports on environmental impact of the undertaking, drawn up by persons licensed thereto. Documentation drawn up by a person failing to meet these statutory requirements can no longer be a basis for the issuance of an environmental permit.
Author: Marcin Barłog