Tourism in the Dominican Republic - a legal guide - Pellerano ...

SAFEGUARDS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Law 158-01 grants crucial importance to the
protection of the environment and natural resources
within the process of tourism development, in the
understanding that the preservation of these resources
is essential for the sustained development of the tourist
industry. For such reasons, it sets out a number of
safeguards to ensure environmental protection and
grants a very direct and active participation to the
Ministry of Environment throughout the whole process
of evaluation, approval and supervision of tourist
projects. These safeguards include the following:
• The Minister of Environment is a member of
CONFOTUR.
• Classification requests filed with CONFOTUR must
have the prior authorization of the Ministry of
Environment, pursuant to the relevant laws and
regulations.
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ATTORNEYS AT LAW
• Companies established in accordance with the law
must ensure the protection of the environment and
natural resources, pursuant to the relevant laws
and regulations. Otherwise, they may be subject to
loosing the benefits granted by the law, and the
Ministry of Environment is charged of supervising
the compliance with this obligation.
• The projects that intend to work with large
amounts of fuel and/or entail an intensive traffic of
ships shall include a contingency plan to prevent
and control fuel spilling.
• No infrastructure project may be approved inside
protected areas or national parks, unless it is
provided with a study of environmental impact
approved by the Ministry of Environment pursuant
to the guidelines, rules and procedures set forth in
the special regulations that the Ministry of
Environment shall issue to that effect.
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