Regional Workshop Environmental Crime/Environmental ... - RENA

Member State Experience: Germany II
Law on Environmental Damage from 2007:
� Additional to the (civil) liability law from 1990
� Covering only the requirements of the Directive
� Leaving the question of “permit defense” open to be defined
by the provinces (Länder)
� Request for action and right to appeal defined in accordance
with other special laws (“Law on Public Participation” and “Law
on appeals in the field of Environment”)
� Templates for “request for action”- letters on the
webpage of BUND (NGO network)
Member State Experience: Austria
Austria as a federal state:
� Federation responsible for damage to water and soil
The Austrian Water Act has provided for a similar system since
many years -> only changes to the current system were
necessary, no start from the scratch
� Provinces (Laender) are responsible for damage to
protected species and natural habitats
Each of the nine provinces of Austria has its own Nature
Protection Act and had to transpose the Directive concerning
damage to protected species and natural habits.
There were no equivalent provisions in place so far - > major
changes were necessary.
EU Overview: permit defence and state of the
art exception:
- Both exceptions:
Belgium (regions), Zyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Greece, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia,
Spain, UK
- Non of the two exceptions:
Belgium (federal level), Germany (delegated to the Laender
who can allow exeptions in their legislation), Hungary, Ireland
(intends to intruduce these exeptions later), Romania,
Bulgaria, Poland, Slowakia, Austria
- Only state of the art exeption: France
- only permit defence: Denmark, Lithuania
- Special solutions: Netherlands, Sweden
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RENA Activity 1.2 RISP 1st Regional Workshop, 30-31 May 2011, Zagreb, Croatia
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