The Parliament of Moldova has adopted in the first reading the law updating the legislation on industrial emissions
The draft law adopted by the Parliament provides for the updating of 8 laws regulating pollutant emissions in accordance with the Law on Industrial Emissions in order to support the reduction of pollutant emissions and ensure more effective enforcement of environmental legislation in our country. The Law on Industrial Emissions establishes the legal framework for the prevention and control of pollution caused by industrial and economic activities in order to reduce emissions into the air, water and soil, as well as to prevent the formation of waste in order to protect the environment. The main proposed changes to the law updating the legislation on industrial emissions provide for the exclusion from the current regulatory framework of the permit for emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere from stationary sources of pollution and its replacement with an integrated environmental permit or an environmental permit; the exclusion of the competence of central and local public authorities to set limits on harmful emissions and discharges, since they are within the competence of the Environmental Protection Agency; updating the competencies of environmental inspectors, including assigning them the responsibility for checking compliance with environmental permits, initiating the procedure for revoking and suspending these permits. It is also proposed to supplement the Electricity Act with a provision provided for in the Industrial Emissions Act, which obliges electricity producers, transporters and distributors to obtain environmental permits. In the same vein, it is proposed to supplement the Environmental Pollution Charge Act with a rule on calculating the tax on emissions and discharges of pollutants and the storage of waste from permitted facilities. According to the new rules, the emission limits will be set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Provisions concerning the integrated environmental permit and the environmental permit have been included, so that economic operators will no longer have to obtain several permits. The integrated environmental permit includes all requirements for air emissions, water management and waste in a single document. To avoid previous confusion, the environmental permit for waste management has been renamed the waste management permit. The pollution charge has also been updated to ensure that all operators comply with the same standards. According to the Ministry of Environment, this initiative aims to align national legislation with European environmental standards, taking into account the need to prevent and reduce emissions into the air, water and soil. Following its approval by Parliament in the second reading, the bill is expected to enter into force upon publication in the Monitorul Oficial. //13.12.2024 — InfoMarket.
