Legal Relations

The environmental protection and rational usage of natural resources represent the composite and multiaspect problem. Its solution is closely connected to regulation of relationship between people and nature, its subordination to a certrain system of instructions, rules, statutes. In our republic such a system is determined by legislation and aims to the rational usage and wide recovery of natural resources. The legal protection of an environment represents a combination of regulations and laws defined by the state and consequently resulting legal relations directed to performance of measures and events connected with the nature protection, nature conservation as well as the rational usage and reproduction of natural resources.

In other words, legal relations in ecology may be defined as a system of state measures legally determined and directed to conservation, restoration and improvement of natural environments friendly for human life and economic activity.

The system of legal relations in the Republic of Belarus includes the following legislative measures:

1. Legal regulation of relations concerning the usage and restoration of natural resources.

2. Organization of staff education and training, financing and logistics of nature protection operations.

3. State and public control over a meeting the requirements on a natural conservation.

4. The legal responsibility of offenders.

Under the legislation of the republic the environment is an object of the legal protection. It is an objective reality, existing outside the person irrespective to his consciousness, serving as a habitat , a condition and means of his existence. Concrete objects of conservation in Belarus are: lands, entrails, waters, forests and other vegetation , nature sanctuaries, resorts, wildlife, atmospheric air.

It is important to emphasize that each of objects mentioned above can be considered both as a natural resource and as an element of the environment.

There is a great number of statutes determining legislative regulation of the nature protection legal relations. The whole complex of the nature protection standards and legislative acts, united by the common object, subjects, principles and goals of the legal protection of the nature forms the nature protection legislation in Belarus.

The general management on legal matters, as well as in all branches of a national economy of republic, is implemented by the supreme state bodies. At present administrative methods are being replaced mainly by economic methods of state surveillance in nature protection. These bodies define economic norms, rules, standards regulating the usage of natural resources and protection the environment. They also control observation of ecological norms when developing new technologies, machines, materials and methods.

There are definite forms of every legislative documents including nature protection. In particular, normative acts containing rights in the sphere of nature protection can recognized here. They are subdivided into laws and the subordinate acts. The Constitution makes the legal basis of the nature protection legislation in Belarus. The legal norms for nature conservation and the rational use of natural resources are contained in the Principles of the Civil, Land, Wood law and also in Principles of Public health law and in criminal codes. We are going to consider these legislative documents later on. The concrete form of nature protection is presented by the “Environmental Protection Law”. The subordinate legislative acts serve as normative - legal acts of state bodies in the republic based upon legislative acts, resolutions of executive committies as well as the branch and departmental instructions, regulations, guidelines.

A deviation from observance of nature protection laws as well as particular normative acts are considered in the juridical aspect as a guilty behaviour of an individual and is qualified as a violation of the nature protection legislation.Then, upcoming unfavorable consequences following the violation of the legislation, are called the nature protection responsibility which is subdivided into material administrative, criminal or disciplinary ones.

The material responsibility means the indemnity of damages done to the nature and economy as the result of violation of the nature protection law or misappropriation of natural products.

The administrative responsibility actuates a punishment in the form of warnings, fines, confiscation of pirate instrument for fishing, debaring from hunting and fishing, and with reference to persons in charge, they may be dismissed from a post. If an organization is a violator, the stoppage of its activity is possible.

The criminal responsibility is assumed carry when a violation of the nature protection legislations is considered under one of articles of the criminal Code of republic either as an economic crime, or as a crime against property, or social security or human health.

The disciplinary responsibility includes non-performance or failure to perform official duties connected with the violation of the nature protection legislation.

There are ecological norms functioning as standards. The maximum concentration limits for harmful substances in the environment can be mentioned among those.

The content of toxic premixes in vehicle emissions is standardized. Defined standards are obligatory for all citizens and organisations without any exceptions.

Non- observance or failure to observe such standards is a subject to the legal responsibility.