Ecological Expertise

The state ecological expertise is carried out with the the purpose of :

- to determine the present and the future level of ecological danger for the prosess economic and other human activity which and can directly or indirectly cause a negative impact on the status of the environment and popultion health;

- to evaluate the relevance of legislation and the planned activity.

- to determine the adequacy of the planned measures.

The state expertise is carried out by state ecological organs on the basis of principles of legislation, scientific grounding and openness, the state and public organizations participating when appropriate.

The state ecological expertise deals with:

- the planning and projecting documentation for economic and other activity likely to negatively influence the environment..

• plan projects and the main strategiesfor the development and location of industirial objects;

• acting enterprises and other objects;

• ecological status of certain regions and areas.

Other projects, schemes and objects a realization of which can influence norms of ecological safety should be issued the positive solution of the state ecological expertise which is essential for realization and financing of such projects.

Public ecological expertise is performed by independent groups of specialists on the initiative of public organisations, Deputy Soviets and citizens and is funded by them. Public ecological expertise takes place independently from the state ecological expertise. Conclusions made by public ecological expertise are taken into consideration by bodies of the state ecological expertise. The main pillar in the ecological surveillance is to provide meeting the requirements of ecologial legislation on the part of juridical and physical objects. A system of environmental control includes state, production and public control systems.

The State Surveillance of the Environmental Status

Environmental protection and rational use of natural resources is a complex problem. It is connected with interelations between humans and nature imposing on them a certain system of instructions, rules, regulations. In Belarus such a system bears legislative character and is supposed to provide protection, rational usage and extended reproduction of natural resources. It means that legal relations in ecology is a system of govermental measures directed to concerve, restore and develop favourable natural conditions for living of people and industrial development.

The system of law relations in the Republic of Belarus includes the following groups of juridical measures: legislative regulation concerning usage, concervation and restoration of natural resources; organization of education and personnel training: financing, material security of the nature protection activity ; state and public control of meeting the requirements for nature protection, juridical responsibility of lawbreakers.

According to legislation of the Belarus Republic the natural environment makes the object of legislative security . This objectively existing reality serves as a place for human habitation and a means for human existence. Concret objects of security in Belarus are: the land, bowels of the earth, waters ( superficial and undeground ); forests and other vegetation, evergreen plants included, typical landscapes, rare nature objects; resort sites, green protection belts, natural green zones, wild nature, atmospheric air. Each of these objects under protection can be considered both a natural resource and an element of nature. There is a great number of laws and statutes stating the legal regulation of the nature protection relations. The aggregate of the nature protection norms and legal acts having the same object, subjects, principles and goals of the nature preservation in Belarus form the nature protection legislation.

General management in relation to law is performed by the supreme organs of state power - the cabinet of Ministers of Belarus Republic and its structures.

At present we experience the period of transition from administrative methods to principally economic methods of state surveillance. These bodies work out economic norms, rules and standards regulating the usage of natural resources and nature protection, they also control ecological norms for the development of new technologies, methods , materials and substances.

There are definite forms of legislation including the nature protection. In particular, here can be recognized normative acts containing legislative norms and subordinate acts of nature protection and rational nature use.

The Constitution of Belarus Republic is a legal source for all nature protection legislations. Legal norms of nature protection and the rational usage of natural resourses are contained in the Basics of the Civil, Water, Land , Forestry Legisla- tions as well in the Health and Criminal Legislations.

The law on nature protection in the Republic represents a concrete juridical form of nature protection. Failure to observe the laws on nature protection and definite normative acts by a person or an organization is considered as a juridical law violation .Then material, administrative, criminal or discipline responsibility might follow.

Material responsibility means to recover losses made to nature and an economy as the result of breaching a nature protective law.

Administrative responsibility means a punishment in the form of notification, penalty, confiscation of illegal fishing equipment, annulment of hunting or fishing license and even dismissal for senior emploeers. If an organisation is a violator then the stoppage of its activity might follow.

The criminal punishment is the case when violation of the nature protection legislation may be considered under any article of the criminal Code of the republic, or as an economic crime, a crime against property, social security and public health.

Discipline punishment means a failure to execute or inadequate execution by a person his official duties followed by breaching the legislation of nature conservation.

Observing standards is a must for all citizens and organizations or juridical responsibility is to follow.