Prague, July 14 (CTK) – The Senate passed on Thursday a bill that sharply reduces the number of the air and water polluters who are obliged to report their emissions of harmful substances to the national register.
The bill relieves almost 1,800 of the country’s total 5,000 polluters of the report duty.
The measure will save 30 million crowns a year, Environment Minister Richard Brabec (ANO) said.
The bill is yet to be signed to law by President Milos Zeman.
It reduces the number of the firms with the report duty, while the list of the pollutants involved remains unchanged.
In the case of some small firms, it was difficult for them to meet the duty to monitor the emissions and report them to the national register, while their influence on pollution has been low.
The bill is to take effect one month after it appears in the Law Digest.
The database of the Integrated Pollution Register (IRZ) annually offers information on selected harmful substances released by polluters in the air, water or within their waste.
The new bill has been drafted as a compromise between representatives of industry and environmental NGOs.
It changes nothing for big polluters.
Even more resolute reductions in polluters’ report duty has been promoted by the Chemical Industry Association for a long time, but its efforts have been opposed by the Environment Ministry.
